#like with this tax stuff she offered to buy me a laptop

[poor-mans-productions]

My cats have had diarrhea the past few days and my mom thinks I should call the vet and ask if they need to be brought in I freaking hope not I feel guilty every time because it’s mom who has to pay for it but I still don’t have a job yet. Ughh

[holdmecloser-gandydancer]

I posted 1,865 times in 2022

That's 126 more posts than 2021!

259 posts created (14%)

1,606 posts reblogged (86%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@/barry-j-blupjeans

@/phantasmagoric-acquaintance

@/holdmecloser-gandydancer

@/anistarrose

@/herbgerblin

I tagged 1,771 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#rip (reeses in pieces) - 214 posts

#not taz - 157 posts

#srb - 92 posts

#reese writes - 54 posts

#taz balance - 53 posts

#taz - 51 posts

#taz amnesty - 50 posts

#asks - 37 posts

#the adventure zone - 34 posts

#lup - 27 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#[reese aren't you working on a long piece with hali in another window?] yeah and? sbtts has been simmering in our shared brains for a while

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Barry takes his glasses off and presses the heels of his hands against his eyes. He’s been staring at his computer for far too long today. The computer in question sits on the couch next to him, screen obscenely bright in his dim living room.

He’d been ignoring the emails that infiltrated his inbox with growing frequency and urgency, all of them riddled with subject lines like “Payment Plans for Upcoming Semester,” and “Payment Due Soon,” and “Seriously, You Owe Us Tens of Thousands of Dollars and We Aim to Collect.” You know, normal stuff.

He’d always figured that actually doing the coursework would be the hardest part of grad school, not figuring out how to fund it without owing his soul and first-born child to the federal government. But the fact of the matter is that he’s reached a dead end; most of everything his mom left him was used to pay off his undergrad loans some years back. His university has mentioned scholarships and work study but he’s convinced the scholarships are a myth and also his university declined to mention that the work study they offer doesn’t actually pay him in money, rather they just pay for three course credits. Don’t get him wrong, that’s better than nothing but that doesn’t help pay his rent or buy textbooks.

Once again he mourns the fact that the only applied arcane theory program that accepted him just had to be a private university many states away.

He returns his glasses to his face and pulls his laptop closer to him. He’s about three modules into his ten-module long loan counseling. It’s basically an online program that explains in excruciating detail just how deeply the federal government has his future in their pocket. “Oh, hey Barry! If you Ever fall behind on your loans, we can garnish your wages that already probably won’t be able to pay for a studio apartment in Neverwinter and also you’ll be paying these back for anywhere from ten to twenty five years! You also cannot declare bankruptcy because you live in hell!! Only way to get off the hook for these is if your school shuts down before you get your degree or you die! Now sign on the dotted line after you hyperventilate a little when you look at just how much money you’re going to be responsible for!”

The whole process makes his stomach hurt; there’s no good reason education should be this much. He’s going to be saddled with loans worth more than any yearly salary he could hope to have and now he’s gotta pay them back or die.

Wait.

He rereads the loan forgiveness terms. “If your loan servicer receives acceptable documentation of your death, your federal student loans will be discharged,” he reads to himself. He's got it.

He lets loose a laugh that borders on maniacal and roots around for his phone. It rings once before someone picks up on the other end.

“Lup!” He whoops.

“Bear? What’s up? You sound extremely excitable right now.”

“Okay, remember when you wanted to get married for tax benefits?”

“I do! I also remember you turned me down because you didn’t want to our marriage to be for convenience.”

Barry laughs to himself. “Yeah, I still stand by that.”

“You sap,” she sighs fondly.

“Well, I think I found a way to scam the federal government through a loophole.”

“Gods I love when you talk dirty to me!”

“We can talk more when you come home but I can almost promise you neither of us are paying off our student loans.”

“Barry, I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about and I can’t wait to hear your devious plan. Love you!”

“Love you.” He clicks end on the call and looks around for his theoretical necromancy notes from a few semesters ago.

264 notes - Posted August 12, 2022

#4

Lucretia pulled the door of her room shut and scrubbed tears from her face. Magnus just needed to sleep it off. He’d be fine. They’d all be fine, Lucretia kept telling herself like some kind of chant to a long-forgotten god. She just had to find the others.

She happened upon Merle and Davenport first. They were at the dining room table. Merle watched Davenport carefully as the captain shook like a soaking wet dog. Lucretia plastered a tight smile on her face though she was certain it would fool nobody. At least, it wouldn’t have ten minutes prior.

“Are you both okay?” she asked, glancing between them.

“Uh. I’m a little confused myself. Who’re you? And where exactly are we?” Merle squinted his eyes at her.

Her stomach twisted. Her plan was working, it seemed. And she hated every moment. “I’m…I’m a friend, of sorts. And we are on a vessel that will dock very soon. And then I’m gonna take you home. Soon. I promise.” She spoke slowly, chose her words carefully, and hoped that Merle’s bad memory would give her some breathing room.

“Davenport.”

Lucretia turned and looked at Davenport, a slight furrow in her brow. “Yes, you’re Davenport.”

He looked up at her and she saw a look in his eyes she would never forget. She saw panic and fear on his face like she’d never seen before, not even during their closest encounters with the Hunger. “I-I’m Davenport,” he repeated, voice shaking.

No. Gods no there was no way. She nodded and forced her smile to widen. “Right. Davenport, do you know where you are?”

“Davenport.”

She looked back to Merle. “Has he said anything besides his name in the past ten or so minutes?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Just Davenport.” He thought for a second, tilting his head consideringly. “Well, I guess he said my name right before he started saying his. Kinda weird ‘cuz I never told him my name. But that’s what we’re working with.”

She already wanted to bring out cups of ichor and abort the plan. How could she do this? Her plan might work but at what cost? “Okay. How’s your head feel?”

“Davenport.” His voice was tight and pained.

“Shitty, now that you mention it. Kinda feels like I got hit over the head with a club or something,” Merle said, frowning deeply.

She nodded. “Right. Do you want to go lie down? A nap might help. I have a room for each of you.”

Davenport looked at her blankly. His gaze was haunted and filled Lucretia with sickening regret.

“I could use a nap,” Merle agreed before standing.

“If you’ll both follow me,” she said primly.

She led them wordlessly down to their rooms, surreptitiously grabbing obvious red flags that were present within them. She grabbed Merle’s jacket, a handful of trinkets from the beach cycle, a memento from the First Church of Fungston, and shut his door without another word. Davenport’s room was easier; his jacket was folded on the edge of his bed and few personal affects that would remind him of the mission were clearly visible.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, almost more to herself than to him.

She left before she had to hear him say his own name again.

Barry and Taako were nowhere to be found inside the ship. Should have known that they’d be on the deck; they’d both been spending days on end pouring over maps of the realm, touching down to search for Lup, before coming back and feeling defeated.

What she found on the deck stopped her dead in her tracks. Taako’s wand was at his feet, he was staring into space, eyes welling with tears. He had a white-knuckle grip on the railing. Barry wasn’t there. Barry was nowhere on the ship.

She approached Taako carefully. “Taako?”

He snapped his head up and looked in her direction though his gaze seemed to pass right through her. “H-he told me to blast him. He said he was forgetting someone’s face and he told me to blast him. He was panicked and he was scared and I wanted to help him and I don’t know why. I don’t know why. I blasted him. I killed him. I-I just killed him and he smiledwhile I did it,” Taako babbled. He looked like he was about to snap the whole railing with his bare hands.

“Taako, it’s okay,” she said, reaching to put a hand on his shoulder.

He flinched away from her and glared. “Don’t fucking touch me! This isn’t okay! I-I killed a guy. I killed a guy and he probably had a fucking family or something at home.”

“Taako, please. I need you to breathe, okay?” Lucretia did her best to be firm and kind. It usually worked.

“How do you know my name? Who are you? A-and where are we? And who was that guy?” Taako snapped. He was putting on a big front but Lucretia knew what this was. He had on the same feral cat façade that he did when she first met him.

See the full post

286 notes - Posted March 7, 2022

#3

Lup can feel her soul vibrating in her body. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence, just the nature of a lich contained. The sweat prickling her scalp though? That’s all nerves, the kind of physiological vulnerability Lup hates. See, everyone’s getting together later for the largest event of the season; the garden party the twins are throwing for their birthday. It’s going to be obnoxious and extravagant and unbecoming, surely. That’s not the source of her anxiety, though.

Lup’s called Taako over early to give him his gift. (If she’s being honest, it’s as much for her as it is for him but who really wants to argue semantics?) She’s reminded him about it no less than four hundred times in the past week. The timing on this is vital, she thinks.

She glances at the clock that hangs over the kitchen sink and bites at her thumbnail; he’s not even late yet, she’s getting worked up over nothing. She murmurs a quick message to Barry through her Stone of Far Speech before filling a kettle and putting it on the stove to boil. She’s pawing through the pantry for honey and tea, fingertips just able to nudge the honey down without a casualty when she hears a key turn in the lock.

“In here!” she calls, retrieving three teacups from a cabinet near the stove. She methodically drops a large dollop of honey in the bottom of each. She pushes them back from the edge of the counter and moves to lean against the island in the middle of the kitchen.

“Lup, the fact that you made me get up early on my birthday is a crime, frankly,” Taako bemoans as he enters the kitchen, sliding onto a stool as he does.

“Our birthday,” she corrects with a dramatic eye roll. She darts a glance back at the clock again.

“Why’re you being weird?” Taako squints at her. Lup turns to look back at Taako and tries to play it as cool as she can. She’s certain she’s reapproaching normalcy already.

“I’m not being weird,” Lup says, giving a weird little smile. Too plasticine, she realizes too late. She doesn’t do this whole nerves bullshit well. It’s annoying and gross.

“You’re being certifiably weird, Lu. But go ahead, try to pull a fast one over on your dear brother,” Taako laments, putting his chin in his hands. The kettle whistles before Lup’s able to tease him about being a drama queen. At once she gets to work, adding a small splash of hot water to the bottom of each teacup, swirling them around to loosen the honey. She then dumps a healthy amount of tea leaves in each cup and covers them with water. She grabs three small plates from the cupboard and covers them. When she turns around, Taako’s staring at her, his eyes narrowed.

“What?” she asks innocently.

“Why are you making three cups? I thought Barold was out doing errands?”

“He is.”

Taako crosses his arms. “Lup, what’s going on? I don’t dig cagey and I do believe I was promised a gift that couldn’t be given in front of everyone else,” he says expectantly.

Lup takes a breath to steady herself. “Taako, I found her.”

His face folds in on itself in confusion. He glances back over at the three teacups and suddenly his face is opening back up in understanding and disbelief. “Bullshit. There’s no way. I-I’ve asked Kravitz about that a thousand times. He said that you can’t just go dipping in the Astral Plane of other planarverses. He said that not even the Raven Queen could clear something like that. Said it wasn’t possible. That’s the whole reason he wasn’t chasing our asses until we touched down in Faerun,” Taako babbles, trying to ignore that defiant, stomach flipping hope bubbling up inside of him.

Lup beams and ignores the clenching in her throat. “Well, you’re not supposed to be able to. But Kravitz, Barry, RQ, and I have been looking for a workaround. Not just for this, apparently RQ and some of the other gods have been looking for a way to connect with their cross-planar counterparts. I guess to like, aid in the smooth running of each planar system? To be honest when she was talking about it I couldn’t really follow but the point is that I found her, Taako. I haven’t talked to her yet. Wouldn’t do that without you. But we did some tests to make sure it’d all be okay and they went perfect. It’s not like it’s a forever open door or anything, though. Strictly speaking, us lowly non-gods still won’t be able to do this but it’s kinda hard to argue with a few saviors of the universe.” Lup cringes for a minute. “I hate playing that card sometimes but I feel like this is worth it.” Her voice catches at the last moment and she clears her throat. She’s determined not to cry.

Taako’s determination to not cry was shattered roughly ten seconds into Lup’s explanation. “How long?” he asks, voice wobbly. He’s not stupid, play too rough with the boundaries of the world and things can get a little fucky. But he wants to make the most of this.

“Few hours? That’s why I had you come over so early. I wanted us to have plenty of time. Didn’t wanna bring her to the party later, that’s just too much. But if you’re okay with it, I do want Barry to drop in for just a minute. He really wants to meet her.”

Taako scoffs and tries to sweep his emotion under a bravado coated façade. “I mean you’re outta your gourd if you think I’m not getting Krav or Angus in here for like ten minutes. I just…I need to know if she heard the Song. I want her to see it was worth it.”

And there goes Lup’s resolve. She nods and smiles a tremulous smile, paying no mind to the tears welling. She removes the plates from the teacups and brings them over to the counter. A sweep of her hand and a scythe materializes out of thin air. She steadies herself against it for a moment as Taako rises to stand beside her. They exchange a glance before Taako gives an encouraging nod. Lup swings the blade effortlessly like she has countless times before. A familiar riiiiip sounds through the kitchen and Lup extends her hand through the tear that formed, waving the scythe away as she does.

Out of the rip walks an older, plump elf woman, a purple shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Soft lines mark her face that indicate a lifetime of joy. She’s a little shorter than the twins but not by much. Her dark waves are pinned up in a bun, her stark white streak still hanging down free like an accessory. She looks incredible. She looks the same as she did when they first met her. She’s smiling wider than the whole world, it seems.

Taako and Lup are doing their best not to openly sob but it’s hard. How can they not? A moment of hesitation passes before they both sweep her up in the tightest hug any of them have ever experienced. The twins each rest their heads on one of her shoulders.

They don’t speak for a moment as they all take in the incredulity, the impossibility of what happened.

“Hi, Tía,” Taako manages to get out between sniffles.

“We have a lot to catch you up on,” Lup says with a wet laugh.

“Believe me, darlings, I’ve heard so much.”

426 notes - Posted April 4, 2022

#2

at least one of thb should have died in wonderland. the place has been designed to get the max suffering out of everyone but it was love that kept them all alive.

Merle (and to a lesser extent, Magnus) gave precious hp to Taako to keep him from biting it

Taako and Merle literally pulled Magnus's soul away from the Astral Plane

Lup devoured and destroyed Edward which destroyed Lydia in the process

and Barry kept them safe in every possible way he could

all huge acts of love in a place full of despair

674 notes - Posted March 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I think being in such close contact with the Light for so many years did kinda do Something to the birds.

because Taako is not charismatic, that's canonical. but, even joke canonical, everyone adores him, desires him, wants to give him all their possessions. people cannot get enough of Taako, even after he dooms a town

Magnus, thanks to his rustic hospitality, is a likeable guy. but he was able to help lead the rebellion that gave him his folk hero status that gave him his rustic hospitality. people were willing to die by his side, this guy who was fairly new to their community

Lucretia managed to begin a whole secret organization and employ a large staff. These missions were deadly, dangerous, and promised the potential to have their very beings wiped from existence. yet people were willing to join the Bureau

these are the most striking instances of this but it's almost like a bit of that craveability brushed off on each of them through all their encounters with it

1,251 notes - Posted March 24, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[flooffybits]

Heartbreaker

Idol: Choi Jisu (Itzy)

Being the messenger was always taxing, but somehow being the messenger got Jisu a package that she wasn’t expecting.

A/n: hello! first of all i don’t fully know much about skz so i apologize if this is inaccurate. also please thank our discord mallows for helping me create this little crack/fluff fic

☕buy me a coffee☕

"Hey, did you see the new girl on campus?"

Both people at the table looked up when the male had asked the question as he walked over, looking a little more chipper than usual before the pair shook their heads.

"My classes don't start until one, so I just got here a few minutes ago to study with Lia." The blond male replied while looking back at his notes. "She's in my literature class, really cute and creative." The brunette stated, earning a light roll of the eyes from the only female. "If she is new, I expect you to at least be friendly before you try anything, Jisung." She stated, putting her pen down and then resting her chin on her hand.

The boy huffed while taking a seat, though his mood doesn’t waver as he goes on. “I think you guys might see her in some classes? I’m not sure, but her name is Y/n.” Jisung explains and the pair look at him in defeat, knowing that he would go on until he finished. “She isn’t exactly eye catching, but I got to sit in front of her and thought that it would be nice to introduce myself to her.”

“That’s nice of you to do. How is she?” Jisu hummed, a little more interested to know since she’s sure that she’s heard the name somewhere before. “She’s really nice! A little timid since she said she isn’t too confident in her Korean.”

“Foreigner?” Hyunjin cocked his head and Jisung nodded in confirmation. “She’s been living here for two years. She only has her dad and I didn’t try asking about her mom since I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.” He added with his brows furrowed slightly and his friends can't help smiling at his thoughtfulness. “I’m sure she’s a nice girl.” Hyunjin grinned while patting his back and the other nodded happily.

“She is! I promise, you’re gonna love her if you meet her.”

And true to Jisung’s words, Hyunjin did meet you for his afternoon classes and was quick to pay attention when he found out who you were. He quickly understood your shyness and offered to be a friendly face in the sea of strangers.

“I was honestly a little surprised by you. Everyone else didn’t seem to want to bother with the new student.” You mention and the male shrugs his shoulders. “You seemed like you needed a friend, and Jisung happened to mention you when we were having lunch earlier.” He notices the way your expression brightens at the mention of his friend’s name and something doesn’t sit too well with him as he shifts in his seat.

“You’re friends with Jisung?” You ask and he nodded his head with a smile. “Yeah. We’re basically brothers. And we also have another friend, her name is Jisu, but most times we call her Lia.” He explained and you hum while nodding your head. “Choi Jisu?”

Hyunjin seemed a little surprised by your question, but he nodded either way before asking. “How do you know her?” You tap your pen against your notebook and rest your head against your other hand. “She’s my dorm mate, though I haven’t actually met her yet since I had a lot of stuff to deal with.” You explain sheepishly and Hyunjin gives you a cute little smile. "You're gonna love her."

..

"You're both being weird." Jisu comments while she writes down the answer for the problem she had been dealing with for the past few minutes.

Yet neither of her friends listen as they continue their little debate. "I'm telling you, the fair is the best way to welcome Y/n here!" But Jisung shook his head while scrolling through his phone. "A fair is too much! We don't want to overwhelm her." He argues and Hyunjin groans. "She'll have more fun at a fair than some museum."

Jisu had just been quietly listening to the pair go on while she did her homework, seeing that telling them to just ask you would only fall upon deaf ears, but she is surprised when her name comes falling from both their lips and she had to look up.

"What?"

"She's your roommate. You have a better idea of what she's like." Hyunjin tells her. "And you're both girls, so you have a better sense of what a girl likes." Jisung adds, his eyes almost pleading for the girl to side with him that she can't help but playfully roll her eyes. "We've talked, but we only really know the basics of each other."

"But you have a good judge of character." Jisu groans before resting her chin against her hand, looking thoughtful. "Well, I think she'd enjoy either. But if you want, I can ask her once we're at the dorm and then I'll text you?" She offers and the pair brighten up at her suggestion before nodding their heads that it makes her laugh a bit.

"You guys are so weird."

But she has no plans of replacing her friends no matter how weird they are.

"Hey, welcome back!" Jisu's surprised when she opens the door, still unaccustomed with having a roommate after getting used to being on her own for a while, but she figures it's a nice change.

"Hey, you're early today." She answers while setting her keys on the counter and you flash her a small grin. "My last class was canceled for today. My professor had an emergency at home, I think." You explain while leaning against the couch, laptop left open on the coffee table in front of you.

Jisu nods before moving to grab a bottle of water and then goes to sit down, leaving her bag hanging behind her chair. "Hey, are you going to be busy this weekend?" She suddenly asked, catching you a bit off guard since, to be honest, you weren't really expecting a question like that from your roommate. But you shake your head to answer her question.

"Well, not really. I was just planning on finishing up some of my homework and then familiarizing myself with the campus." You reply honestly while shrugging your shoulders.

There wasn't really much, plus this was a completely foreign area. You needed to know your way around and also look for the places you could, hopefully, use as a hangout place just so you didn't have to always stay in your dorm room like a hermit.

"You should join us, then." Jisu perked up, her smile only growing as you looked skeptical. "Hyunjin, Jisung and I are trying to decide whether we should go to the fair or a museum." She finally says, mentally patting herself on the back as she smoothly put the question out. "Though, which would you prefer to go to?"

You are pleasantly surprised, both by the offer and the way she's even taking your opinion into account, but something you've noted from your new dorm mate is that she's incredibly kind and thoughtful. It was no wonder she was friends with the other two. But you also didn't want to impose especially since the group didn't even know you.

"I mean, I wouldn't mind going to either, but I wouldn't want to suddenly tag along and ruin your guys' fun." You tell her and Jisu chuckles while shaking her head. "It's fine! They actually asked me to talk to you, since I thought you might not have many people to hang out with yet."

"Are you sure?" You ask her, hesitant, and Jisu giggles as she reaches for your hand to give it a light pat. "I promise, we'll be there for you."

There's something about her assurance that makes you feel warm. Her eyes disappear as her smile grows just a tad bit wider and you can't help but giggle at how cute she looks.

"Well, okay then. But where would you like to go though?" You return the question to her and this time, the tables have turned and Jisu wasn't quite sure what to answer, so she stutters out the first thing that comes to mind and she swears that she's a little bit stunned by the grin you shoot her way.

..

"Well, an aquarium is a little similar to a museum." Jisung commented while he looked up at the signs and Hyunjin pouted slightly, though wiped it away when he remembered that he would be seeing you in a little while. "It isn't the fair but the animals are kinda cute." He states while peering into one of the glass containers, giggling at the little jellyfish that floats by.

Both boys were a little disappointed that neither of their suggestions were picked, but seeing as they would be spending time with you, it was a fine decision. Plus, they did say they would go with whatever you would pick.

"Sorry for the wait! Y/n wanted to see some places on campus and we kinda lost track of time." Jisu apologizes when the two of you finally spot the pair and approach them with timid smiles on your faces.

Hyunjin shakes his head while shoving his hands in his pockets. "It's fine! Though, I hope you found whatever it was you were looking for?" He cocks his head to the side along with the question and you giggle at the adorable look on his face. "Yup! I had a great tour guide."

Jisu blushes in embarrassment while lightly smacking your arm. "Shut up. I only made sure you didn't get lost." She retorts, but you laugh nonetheless as she huffs at you and Jisung is happy that you're at least getting along with their little group.

"Well, how about we pick buddies so we don't get lost here?" He suggests coolly and Hyunjin shoots him a tiny glare when he realizes what his best friend is up to. Jisu can only really shake her head while you were none the wiser as you happily agreed.

"Great! Since you already spent the morning with Lia, how about we be buddies?" Hyunjin quickly asks before the other could even open his mouth and Jisung quickly pouts at you. "Hey, I should be Y/n's buddy. I befriended her first." He complained and Hyunjin turned his eyes to the brunette with furrowed brows. "What are you? Six? We'll still be a group." He retorted and Jisu had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing at their childish antics.

You just found the whole exchange entertaining, especially when Jisung turned to the female beside you. "Back me up here. We're twins, right?" Hyunjin looked baffled by the sudden attack before crossing his arms. "Since when the hell were you twins?"

"Ever since we were born!"

"She's older than you!"

"Unless you guys have come to an agreement." Jisu cut in on the pair's bickering. "Y/n and I are gonna go ahead." She announces and you giggle while waving with your free hand while your other arm is looped with Jisu's. "Don't get lost!" You called as you both walked away with hushed giggles before the boys quickly snapped their mouths shut.

They shot each other a glare before quickly following the two of you.

"This is your fault." Jisung groaned and the latter scoffed. "I was just being friendly." Hyunjin retorted as he pouted at the seals when they swam in his line of sight. "You did say it would be nice getting to know her." Jisung frowned while scuffing his shoe against the floor. "Yeah, but I wanted to hang out with her because I wanted to be closer with her."

The admission caused Hyunjin to stop in his tracks before he slowly turned to his friend, a slightly guilty look overcoming his own features as he let out a sigh. "Looks like we really do have a lot of things in common." He chuckled, unamused, before shaking his head at Jisung's puzzled face.

"I think… I like her." He says slowly, watching as his friend’s eyes widened before pursing his lips. “And it’s clear that you feel something for her, too.” Jisung frowned at that before he looked to the ground, contemplating on what to say before he looked back up to meet Hyunjin’s eyes with determination in his own. “Then we’ll both do what we can and let her choose. But whatever happens, we don’t let it ruin us.”

Hyunjin blinked slightly in surprise, but a smile eventually came to his features before he clasped the outstretched hand in front of him with his own, laughing a bit as he nodded in agreement. “May the best man win.”

When the pair find you and Jisu happily marveling at the seal’s section in the aquarium, your laughter fills the slightly crowded area while you both watch the seal wave at its audience before swimming away, only to be replaced by another playful one.

“You guys look like you’re enjoying yourselves.” Jisung comments with a smile and the two of you look back at the two boys. “Well, we are on a trip. And it’s nice to see you’re both still alive.” Jisu shoots back playfully, drawing another giggle from you. “Had fun?” You ask the duo and they look at each other before nodding. “Yep! But you guys ditched us.” Jisung pouts and Jisu can’t help but cringe while you smile lightly.

“Sorry, but you were too slow.” You tease while reaching to pinch his cheek and the male pouts more while playfully pushing your hand away, though he does make sure not to let go of it when you lower your hand and your other two friends raise a brow at his subtle action.

“You stole Lia away and left us for dead, how could you?” He whined while shaking your hand and you giggled at his reaction before patting his arm. “You guys are more than capable of dealing with a crowd like this, so I didn’t leave you for dead.”

“Anyway.” Jisu watches as her two friends seem to grow a sudden sense of competition but keeps her mouth shut even as Hyunjin slings an arm around your shoulders, gently pulling you away from Jisung’s grasp and successfully detaching your linked hands. “How about we grab something to eat? My feet are kinda tired and I’m hungry.”

It looked like that was something you could all agree on. Despite the fun that you all had walking around, none of you could deny that you were getting a bit hungry from all the excitement.

With his arm still around you, Hyunjin began leading your little group towards the area where food stalls were lined up, many friends and families loitering around as they seemed to be in the same predicament as you.

“So, what are you two up to, this time?” Jisu asks plainly without even bothering to look at the male walking beside her. She didn’t even have to look at him to know that he was sulking. “We’re trying to woo her.” He mumbled quietly and Jisu’s brows raised at his words before she shook her head.

“You guys are ridiculous, I swear.”

..

“Lia, can you give this to Y/n when you get back to your dorm?” Staring at the box in front of her, Jisu soon looked questioningly at her friend. Hyunjin smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s been busy with a project so I wanted to do something nice. She also mentioned that she liked these cookies so I thought it would at least cheer her up.” He explained while the female took the box and placed them on top of her books. “You didn’t think of just dropping by and handing them over, yourself?” She inquired and the male fiddled with the strap of his bag. “I didn’t want to be too much of a distraction.”

When he checks the time, he flashes her a smile. “My class is about to start, but I’ll see you later. Tell Y/n I said hi.” Jisu waved to the boy as he jogged off to a different building and it didn't take long before another person plopped down in front of her .

Honestly, Jisu was getting a little tired of her friends’ childishness because this had been going on for a good month and a half. Frankly? She was done playing their messenger.

But for the sake of their pride, she went along with it. She also wanted to see how long until they give up.

"What do you want me to hand over?" She asks, uninterested, and Jisung grins at her before handing the girl a stuffed animal, plus two drinks, making the girl look confused as she looks over the items.

"One is for you. I know that it gets tiring, but I also wanted to show you how much I appreciate it that you're doing this for Hyunjin and I." Jisung explains and Jisu softens slightly before she gives the boy a nudge. "You guys are stupid, do you know that?"

But even with her words, Jisung could feel the affection as he reached to give her a hug. "Just be careful with the plushie. I had no idea where to find it in the first place, but it's one of Y/n's favorite characters." He added, making Jisu look back down and nod her head. "Yeah, I know." 

"Roommate, right." He remembers before finally pulling back. "But anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Also, tell Y/n not to stress herself too much on her project. Make sure she's eating, too." He reminds and Jisu swears it feels like he's scolding her, too, because they all knew she had a tendency of forgetting to eat whenever she was too absorbed with her studies.

"You're sounding like a father." Jisu teased, laughing as Jisung shot her a playful glare. "Oh, shut up." He smiles before shaking his head and standing up. "Anyway, I have to get going. I promised Chan that I would help him with something, so I'll see you later."

When she's alone, Jisu lets out a small sigh before turning back to the gifts that she was once more tasked to deliver before huffing. Stuffing her things in her bag, she grabbed the box of cookies with one hand, plushie tucked under her arm, while the other grabbed the drinks.

"Unnie, you're a little late today." A short haired woman spoke up once Jisu entered the dorm building and stepped onto her floor.

Said girl smiled and shrugged her shoulders as the younger girl moved to help her carry the things she was holding. "Thank you." She muttered when she was relieved of the bit of extra weight. "Hyunjin and Jisung are busy and I have to study for a test, too." She replies while shaking her head as the other looked down at the things she had taken from her hands.

“Don’t even start, Ryujin.” Said girl merely raised her other hand in defense, looking amused. “I wasn’t even saying anything.” The younger girl defended, though the smirk on her face was already enough for Jisu to know what she wanted to tell her. "They'll get over it."

"You're hoping it's sooner than later." Ryujin quips when they walk over to her dorm room and Jisu frowns. "Okay, I admit it's exhausting, but they're happy at least. And I know that they aren't doing anything to jeopardize their friendship." She uses the same excuse, but Ryujin gives her a knowing look. "Feelings eventually grow or fade, unnie. If it's the former, her picking one is only going to make things worse no matter how much they say they're fine with it."

Jisu swears that she tries not to think of that, but in the very back of her mind, she knows it's true because she came to the same conclusion. If you decided to pick either of the two, the other would obviously be heartbroken and whatever would happen to their small group, she wasn't sure how she would deal with it.

"If they aren't ready to talk about it, maybe give Y/n unnie a little nudge and see who she likes more. Then go from there."

Jisu contemplates over the younger girl’s words for a good hour. She left your gifts on the table like usual while her own drink sat on the table situated beside her bed as she stared up at the ceiling.

"Hey." Your voice breaks through her thoughts, eyes squinting behind your glasses and Jisu forces herself to sit up and face you as you open the door a little wider. "I was calling you, but you weren't answering."

She can see the hesitance on your features, but the more she studies you, she realizes that she's gotten so used to seeing you in just a plain tee, comfortable shorts, and those cute little glasses that you wear only in the comfort of your dorm.

"Sorry, I was a little lost in thought." Her voice is hushed and you can't help but frown before padding over to the bed. Jisu scoots over to give you space to sit before she feels the bed dip slightly.

"You seem to be getting lost very frequently. Is something the matter?" You inquire and Jisu purses her lips because she isn't quite sure what to tell you.

Yes, something was bothering her. But the issue was, she wasn't sure what exactly it was.

She can see the genuine concern in your eyes and your voice pretty much gives it away. And as much as this wasn't anything new to her, it made her feel just a tad bit flattered.

"Do you…" She pauses and the words are at the tip of her tongue. So she licks her lips slightly before letting out a breath. "Do you like anyone?"

The surprise is clear on your face. But honestly, at that moment, Jisu was terrified to know the truth when she saw the way your cheeks flushed a bright red, obviously not expecting such a question.

However she isn't sure why she's dreading to hear one of her friends' names come spilling from your lips.

"Well, I…" You fiddle with your fingers, toying with the little ring wrapped around your right index finger, a gift she had given to solidify your friendship right after the aquarium hangout.

"I'm figuring it out."

.. 

"You seem chipper today." Jisu looks beside her to see Yeji giving her an odd look. The older girl cocked her head to the side, but Jisu just smiled while shrugging her shoulders. "What? Can't I enjoy class for once?" She rebuttals and Yeji seemed even more surprised by her response. 

"What did my brother promise you?" She prods and Jisu nearly rolled her eyes before giving her sit mate a light smack on the arm. "He didn't promise me anything. I'm just in a good mood."

"You having a good mood in Philosophy is a sign of the apocalypse."

"Shut up."

Even when the lecture started and time continued to tick by, Yeji kept glancing at her friend, whose smile refused to leave her face.

"You're starting to freak me out here, Lia." She whispers and said girl let out a huff. "Pay attention." But the latter had other plans she opted to go through with. "Come on, I thought we were friends."

Jisu felt the corners of her lips twitch at the latter's whining before she gave her friend a playful push. "I'll tell you later. For now, just pay attention."

Yeji was just about to continue whining, however the professor turned in their direction at the exact moment and she stiffened in her seat, making Jisu duck her head to hide her silent laughter.

Right as their class ended, Yeji was quick to hop to her feet and begin shaking her friend's arm when she was trying to collect her things. "Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

It honestly felt like Yeji was younger than her most times, but then again, she did have her own moments.

"Alright. Come on, let's go." 

The taller girl looked pretty confused by her words, but she followed Jisu out of the room and wasn't too surprised to see her brother and Jisung standing not too far away from them once they exited.

Hyunjin waved at his sister whilst she gave him a pout. "Lia has a secret and won't tell me yet." She complained, making the girl shake her head at her antics before glancing at her two best friends, who both eyed her curiously.

And she was lowkey scared now when she remembers the conversation she's had with you.

"What are you hiding?" Jisung asked playfully and Jisu tried to think of what to say that could possibly keep her nerves calm until a warm hand enveloped her own.

"Hi! Sorry, Yuna was asking me for tutoring lessons so we had to fix a schedule." You greet everyone with a bright smile and Jisu feels a little bit better when you direct your smile in her direction, one she happily reciprocates.

Hyunjin seemed surprised by your arrival, knowing that you didn't usually come to see any of them at this time. "I thought you used your free period in the library?" He asked and you nod your head in confirmation.

"Usually, yeah. But I did promise a certain someone that I was going to take them out." You answer with a little grin and Yeji's eyes widened in awe and realization whilst the two males seemed to pause at the sudden news.

"Really? You guys are so cute!" Yeji gushed, causing a blush to form on Jisu's cheeks while you gently tugged at her hand. "I know that break time isn't too long, so I hope you guys don't mind." You tell them, taking Jisu's bag and placing it on your own shoulder instead, raising her embarrassment as she squeezed your hand.

While the two of you waved them goodbye, Jisu flashed the two boys an apologetic stare before you began asking her how her day was.

Meanwhile, Jisung and Hyunjin blinked owlishly by the sudden events before slowly facing each other.

"A… date?" Hyunjin furrowed his brows and Yeji turned to face them. "I mean, yeah. I know Ryujin told Chaeryeong about talking to Lia, but to think that she picked her instead." She said humorously with a shake of her head.

"Wait, I thought Lia was straight!" Jisung said, flabbergasted, as he looked at the direction you had disappeared to.

Forgetting about their previous competition, both boys looked to each other before Yeji burst into laughter as she patted her twin's arm.

"You tried. But they are roommates, you don't really know what happens behind closed doors."

They swear, once you both came back from your date and you all had free period, they had a series of questions for the two of you regarding this little revelation, but they were nowhere near as angry as Jisu assumed them to be.

[imaginetonyandbucky]

The Buy In

Chapter 10: Epilogue

by @dracusfyre

"I feel like you're going to try to sell me a time share," Bucky said, studying the bland conference room Tony had reserved. It looked like probably every other conference room Bucky had ever been, as if they were all ordered out of the same catalogue; beige walls, carpeted floor that had the feeling of being beige while actually having flecks of red and blue in it, and the tables and chairs with wheels on them so they could be moved easily. Tony had even pulled down a screen and to all appearances, was setting up for a powerpoint presentation. 

"It's all about presentation, Mr. Barnes," Tony said. He picked up a clicker and a red dot appeared on Bucky's chest, then started moving around in what Bucky eventually recognized as a heart shape. "Gotta know your audience and what they'll respond to. Too fancy, and they'll be scared off. Not fancy enough, and they'll feel like they're being scammed. A hotel conference room fits neatly inside that middle ground."

"You've put a lot of thought into this," Bucky said. He glanced at the clock, saw that they had a few minute before people were supposed to arrive and dipped his head for a quick kiss. 

"Well, yeah," Tony started, but then there was a knock on the door. Tony opened it to see that part of the security detail started bringing in the refreshments for the meeting, coffee and donuts and croissants and other breakfast-style food that people would probably pick at and leave mostly untouched. "Natasha helped," he continued, poking at the refreshments table and rearranging everything slightly. "She's better at that side of things, the headology, as she calls it."

"I can see that." Bucky watched Tony putter. Looked like Tony was nervous, which was kind of adorable. "So you can't even give me a sneak peak at what you're talking about today?"

Tony shook his head. "For right now, you're a potential investor, not my lover."

"Ok, ok," Bucky said. He realized he was following Tony around as he puttered aimlessly and made himself stop. "So I got to see KT today. Brought him his laptop so he could start catching up on homework."

That made Tony stop rearranging the plates and napkins and turn to Bucky with a smile. "Good! So that mean's he is doing well?" 

"Yep. Should be out of there soon. Any update on Rumlow?"

Tony's smile turned evil. "From what I hear, he's had a run of bad luck lately, such a shame. He lost his service pistol, which, you know, big no no. And did you know someone stole his patrol car, spray painted it, and left something unmentionable smeared on the seats?  Then did the same with his personal car, which was found laying upside down in front of his apartment building?"

With a force of effort Bucky kept his face blank. "Strange."

"Very strange," Tony agreed. "Insurance didn't even pay out, mysteriously enough. Apparently they had dropped his coverage the day before and he hadn't gotten the notice yet."

"Crime in this city is getting really out of hand," Bucky said seriously. "He's lucky it wasn't something worse."

"Oh it will be, give it time."

There was that smug look again that Bucky loved, and he started to sneak another kiss when there was another knock. This time the security guard was escorting people inside, a middle-aged Black couple that looked around cautiously, like they were expecting the conference room to contain something nefarious. Bucky straightened immediately, trying to look professional, and smiled at them as Tony welcomed them inside, calling them by name and offering them a warm handshake. There was a steady stream after that, until the conference room was about half full. 

"Hello everyone, let's get started," Tony said, taking a head count and looking at the clock. "All of you are here because you either were recommended by a friend or a family, or I sent you a personal invitation. Thank you for being willing to join me today for this presentation, and please save your questions for the end. As you all know, my name is Tony Stark, genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, and in this presentation I'm going to ask you for money." Tony grinned as almost everyone laughed. "Then I'm going to tell you what you're going to get for your money, and then I'm going to explain how you're not even going to notice that your money is gone." 

As interested as Bucky was in the presentation, he kept getting distracted by watching Tony effortlessly charm the room, making eye contact with each person and joking just enough to keep people interested without derailing his speech. It was a warmer, more authentic show than what Bucky had seen at the Policeman's Ball and it made Bucky's heart turn over with affection as he watched. KT had been right when he said that the buy-in speech could make you a believer; not just in the astonishing amount of benefits that Tony offered to people who agreed to the buy-in, but because Tony's enthusiasm for the project was contagious. 

"So why do you need our money?" One guy interrupted. "If you've got so much of it?"

"Good question," Tony said. He leaned against one of the tables, putting his hands in his pocket and crossing his legs at the ankle. "Yeah, the majority of the start-up money came from me. Since this organization is technically a nonprofit, I get to write it all off of my taxes, the way rich people often do. But I ask for your money because if I paid for all of it, then it would belong to me, wouldn't it? The whole point of this enterprise is to build ownership and equity in the community. You own the health clinic and the child care centers, the retirement homes and the apartment complexes. Not only does it mean you get to decide what to do with them, but it means that you start having a place at the same table that all of the billionaire developers and well-connected real estate moguls do."

"But the stuff about the taxes and stuff, where we just hand it all to you, that's tax fraud, isn't it? Which is illegal?"

"Well, yes, in a way," Tony said honestly. "You avoid paying taxes the same way rich people avoid paying taxes, by finding loopholes in the tax code and driving semi-trucks through them. But also, I'm the criminal, not you. If we get caught, I'm the big bad con artist that scammed honest folks like you out of your hard earned savings. There will be a class action lawsuit after the criminal proceedings, my lawyer will fight hard but not too hard to defend my assets, then they will eventually get divided up among all my victims in the kind of feel-good, good guys win story that is made for Hallmark TV. In the mean time, my job is to help the community fund the type of social welfare projects that the government should be doing but isn't, by taking from people who don't deserve it and giving it to the people that do. Which the government should also be doing but isn't."  

"So this is like, socialism," a young woman said in accented English. "Instead of paying the government taxes, we give that money to you, and you like, do all this stuff with it."

"Pretty much. Grassroots socialism with a capitalist veneer. I like to think of it as stone soup, from the kid's story."

"But why?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," Tony said, like it was obvious. Bucky hid his smile in his hand and hoped he didn't look too besotted; he'd sat all the way in the back for a reason. "I don't know else to say it. Why should I have so much when others have so little? I give a lot it away, because there really are so many problems that can be solved by throwing money at them, but some can't. Some need systemic change, which means empowering people, which is what I'm trying to do. That's why it's a buy-in, and not a handout." There was still some obvious reluctance among the group, and Tony's smile turned a little sad. "Look, I get it. You are used to people promising a lot and not delivering. And you think this sounds way too good to be true, right?" No one really answered, but the way they kind of avoided Tony's eyes said a lot. "Let me tell you a story.

"So I've been donating regularly to the free clinic on 17th for a while now. A few years ago, there was a kid volunteering there because he wanted to go to medical school. But he was in a shit position - his parents made too much money to qualify for the grants and needs-based scholarships, but not enough to actually afford tuition or even qualify for good student loans. So the doctor in charge of the clinic emailed me and told me to do something useful with all of the blood money I was getting from Stark Industries, and so I did. I paid for his entire education, and he came back and is currently the head physician at the rehab clinic. So if you want there to be a catch, if you need there to be a catch so that you can believe what I'm telling you, then that's the catch - you have to try to give back at least as much as you were given."

There was a long, thoughtful silence after that, and Tony wisely let it sit for a while instead of trying to fill it with words. "You don't have to answer now," he said after a few moments. "The forms that you would need to fill out for the buy-in are right here," he added, tapping a stack of papers next to him. "Take one with you, and think about it. Any last questions?"

"Yeah, I got one," the young woman said. "I heard you stole Jeff Bezos' car, is that true?"

-------------

A/N: If you enjoyed this story, come find me over at @marveltrumpshate​ where I will be participating in auctioning off TWO fanfics! One auction is a fic with art (with @massivespacewren) as WrenFyre and the other is a solo fic as Dracusfyre. All the money goes to a good cause of your choosing, so I hope to see you there!

[mamabearcatfanfics]

More Than Words - One

“Please, please, please, please, please Kagome!”

She looked up from her laptop to roll her eyes at the dark haired man leaning over her desk, his violet eyes beseeching, hands together as if in prayer.

“You would think by now Miroku, that you of all people would know that when a lady says no, she means no”, she said dryly, dropping her attention back to the computer screen in front of her. It was boring work, but if everything wasn’t just so, the tender documents could be rejected, and she really didn’t want to open that can of worms with her project manager.

“But Kagome”, he continued pleading. “She’s amazing, gorgeous, an angel!” His eyes misted over as he gazed off into the middle distance. “I think it’s her. I think I’ve finally found the love of my life.” Kagome snorted, and his eyes flicked back to hers. “You don’t believe me?” he said with a wounded expression.

“Miroku”, Kagome sighed, “you probably spoke to her for a maximum of what, two minutes, tops? And that was to order coffee. How is this girl any different from the temp secretary you took out on a date after the office Christmas party three weeks ago? Or that girl you abandoned me for last Friday night when we went out to karaoke? I’m not going to hound some poor woman minding her own business into giving you her number just because you have the unfortunate habit of falling for every pretty face you see!”

Miroku shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. This was different. When my fingers touched hers, it was, like, I don’t know, a spiritual connection.” He sighed, leaning against Kagome’s desk, his hand over his heart. “She owns me, body and soul.”

“Oh my god Miroku,” Kagome chortled, pushing his hip off her desk. “If you were any cheesier I’d need to run out and buy wine and crackers! You do realise that you sound like someone out of one of those trashy romance movies on daytime TV? Next you’ll be writing sonnets and saying you were struck by Cupid’s arrow.” She got up from her desk to move over to the filing cabinet, rifling through the files. “I still don’t see why I need to be involved anyway - just ask her for her number herself if you’re so desperate!”

Miroku sighed, hanging his head despondently. “I’ve been banned. By her guard dog.” Kagome looked at him questioningly. “The barista.”

“You got banned from a café by the barista? What on earth did you do!?” She held up her hands, the file in them covering her view of Miroku as he opened his mouth to explain. “No, don’t tell me, on second thoughts, I don’t want to know!”

“Kagome, I’m begging you! Just talk to her. If she doesn’t want to give her number to me, I’ll admit defeat. I just need to know! What if I did all your filing for the next week?”

Kagome shook her head. “No way! I’ve only just got all my files back in order from when you meddled with my stuff when I was on leave.”

“I’ll walk your dog.”

“I have a cat.”

“I’ll do your tax return for you.”

“I’d like to stay out of prison, thanks very much.”

“I’ll, I’ll… “ Miroku looked around the office, as if searching for inspiration, his eyes alighting on Kagome’s much loved pink coffee cup, sitting empty and forlorn on her desk. “I’ll buy you coffee for the next month!”

Kagome stared him. “You’re offering to buy me coffee for a whole month?” He nodded. “And this is whether she gives me her number or not?” Miroku nodded again. Kagome bumped the filing cabinet drawer shut with her hip, then placed the folders on her desk, turning back to him with a gleeful expression on her face.

Miroku’s face fell when he realised exactly how much that this might cost him in monetary terms. Kagome loved her coffee; she was rarely seen without her favourite coffee mug in her hand. And she did a lot of overtime, often working back late at the office, weekends too when a tender was due.

Kagome grinned even wider and slapped him on the shoulder. “Miroku, my lovestruck friend, you’ve got yourself a deal!”

 ☕💘☕

 Kagome walked towards the tiny hole in the wall coffee shop a few blocks away from the office. It was literally only a door and a window wide, the exterior painted in matte black, with a white awning shading the customers waiting outside in the hot Australian summer sun. The business name adorned the glass window, a simple red circle with black text in a strong block font - Black Dog Coffee.

There was a line of people heading out the door waiting patiently, some chatting quietly, but most looking down at their phones. As she got further forward in the line, she was amused to notice that everyone followed the same pattern – a step towards the woman taking orders, stating their name and order and paying, then two steps to the left while they waited for their coffee. The woman at the cash register didn’t take another order until the first one had been filled, yet no one complained. That was kind of odd, but the line was moving fairly swiftly, so she guessed it worked, even though it wasn’t how cafés usually took their coffee orders. It was hard to see what was going on from her position in the line, stuck behind a tall guy in a business suit. She decided to look up reviews for the coffee shop online while she was waiting.

‘This coffee is the absolute bomb, but don’t piss off the barista!’

‘Was recommended to me by a friend. Coffee is amazing.’

‘Kinda weird. They only sell coffee, roast their own beans I think. The barista is something else!’

‘Would wait in line all day for this coffee!!’

‘Worst experience ever. Got BANNED because I tried to order more than five things. And they have no food, just coffee. WTF! Pretty sure the barista was in the yakuza – that guy has tatts for days! 0/10 would recommend.’

‘Follow the ordering protocol and you’ll be sweet – best coffee in the downtown financial district.’

‘OMG – best coffee EVER! I’m now a daily customer.’

Hmmm. She tried to peer around the tall guy in front of her, but she couldn’t see anything; the afternoon sun was reflecting off the glass covered office building nearby, getting in her eyes and making her squint. She fanned her face with her hand. Man it was hot. You could fry an egg out here on the cement. She hoped the coffee was worth the freckles she was probably getting on her nose right now. The tall guy stepped forward to make his order, and she caught a glimpse of the woman behind the cash register.  

Long glossy brown hair with thick bangs, and a bright smile. Her brown eyes, highlighted by bright pink eyeshadow, sparkled with warmth; she was giving her total attention to the current person she was engaging with. She wasn’t much taller than Kagome herself and the tight black t-shirt she was wearing with the name Sango embroidered on the pocket accentuated her generous curves.

Kagome sighed. Miroku was nothing if not predictable – he loved curvy ladies. But how was she going to ask for this woman’s number without causing a disruption – everyone seemed to be on board with the ordering system, and if the coffee was as good as the reviews promised there was no way she was going to get herself banned from coming back.

She glanced down to the time on her phone, and then to the opening hours printed on the tiny shop window. It was almost closing time. Maybe if she hung back for a little while and caught the woman after they’d shut up shop? She groaned internally, trying not to think of the work still waiting for her on her desk. She should have held out for two months of coffee.

The tall man stepped to the side. Crap, she needed to order.

“Good afternoon ma’am. What would you like?” The woman’s smile was wide and welcoming.

“Uh, a large latte please, no sugar”, Kagome said, holding up her credit card ready to tap payment.

“Name please?”

“Kagome. That’s K – A…”

“That’s okay, I know how to spell it.” Kagome watched with interest as the woman wrote her name on the coffee lid in curving characters. Was that hirigana? She vaguely recognised it was her name being written from the two terms of Japanese she did in high school. A grunt came from her left, and she realised with a little start that she was meant to move to one side.

She stood in front of the gleaming commercial espresso machine, eyes closing as she savoured the rich coffee aroma. It smelt amazing, rich and full. Not burnt. It was a little hard to see the barista; her view was blocked by towers of takeaway coffee cups in various sizes. But those reviews that mentioned him had made her curious now. She stepped to the side a little more. Ah, there he was.

He was taller than her - she guessed she’d come up to just above his shoulder, but then she wasn’t exactly tall herself at 5’2”. He had long dark hair, looped back in a low ponytail, with a choppy fringe and slightly longer forelocks  on either side of his face, tanned skin that was complemented by the white collarless t-shirt he wore under a denim apron. His expression as he looked downward to make the coffee was stern, but she didn’t see what he had to be so grumpy about. Maybe he was just hot? Maybe he just took his job very seriously? He moved out from behind the coffee machine and her eyes widened at the sight of his forearms, revealed by the shirt sleeves pushed up to his elbows. They were covered in tattoos from the wrist; dark sleeves of swirling black water flowing up his arms, broken only by pink and red cherry blossoms, with a hint of green and yellow. Then he looked up.

His eyes. They were hazel, for want of a better description, but such a light hazel that they almost looked golden. With the late afternoon sun behind her, lighting his face, they almost sparkled like citrine quartz. He placed the lid on her coffee, then set it down in front of her.

“Kagome.”

He’d pronounced her name right. Ka-goh-meh. She was so used to the way most Australians butchered her Japanese name, a way for her parents to honour her Japanese grandfather, that she was immune to its mispronunciation, but he’d said it just right. Just. Right. His voice was deep and a little husky. He made that small grunting noise in the back of his throat again, his strong dark brows lowering a little, and she realised in embarrassment that she was staring at him.

“Uh, yes, I’m sorry, yeah that’s me! I’m Kagome.” Idiot. Of course he knew that, it’s not like there was anyone else standing right in front of him waiting! She reached out for her coffee where he’d placed it on the edge of the counter, and then backed away, pink cheeked, as another person stepped to the side to wait for their coffee.

She moved to stand in front of the shop next door, taking out her phone for something to do while she waited for closing time, slowly sipping her coffee, which was glorious by the way. But she couldn’t give herself over fully to her enjoyment of the taste, unable to control her wandering eyes.

‘Oh my god, he’s gorgeous! I’ve never seen anyone with eyes that colour before. And that’s so much ink on his arms - that must have hurt like a bitch! I never would have picked that a guy would get cherry blossom sleeves, but they don’t look girly on him at all - the exact opposite really. I wonder if they go all the way up his arms? God, now I’m imagining him with his shirt off - bad girl, Kagome! Maybe the cherry blossoms are a cultural thing? I think he’s Japanese, and I’m pretty sure that’s my name in hirigana on the coffee lid, but I don’t want to make an assumption just based on that and his looks. I wonder what he’s thinking about? He doesn’t look unhappy or angry exactly, just… determined? Maybe he just has resting bitch face.’ She snorted a little at that thought, then sighed. ‘His movements are so graceful and fluid, it’s like watching someone do tai chi or something. Oh, he has such nice hands - strong fingers. I could watch him make coffee aaaaall day.’

She gazed dreamily, sipping at her coffee slowly, the phone in her hand forgotten. Golden eyes suddenly met hers, one eyebrow raised in a puzzled expression. ‘Oh shit, he’s looking this way. He’s noticed that I’m looking at him. Abort! Abort! Oh fuck… This is all your fault Miroku!’

She turned tail and fled, almost running back to the office. The reviews had been right. The hot coffee was amazing, but the hot barista? Yeah, he was definitely something else. She knew she would be back first thing in the morning to get another coffee. And it wasn’t just because the coffee was amazing and that he was beautiful to look at. There was something about him. She wanted to get to know him better.

Miroku was waiting for her out the front of their office building. “So, did you get it?” he asked eagerly.

“What?”

“Did you get her number. Sango’s number?”

“Uh…” Shit. She’d been so flustered when he had suddenly looked up and met her gaze that she’d turned tail and fled without remembering why she was waiting there in the first place. Damn. Heat washed across her cheeks, and she flicked her gaze away from Miroku’s.

“Our calm and collected Kagome blushing? Oh, there must be a good story behind this – do tell!”

“No story. You’ve ordered coffee from there before – I didn’t want to do anything to upset the system and get banned like you did! There just wasn’t an opportunity today – I’ll try again tomorrow.”

Miroku poked her in the ribs. “But surely that wouldn’t make you blush Kags! C’mon, spill.”

“There’s nothing to tell!” she spluttered.

Suddenly Miroku burst out laughing. “Oh ho ho, I get it. You were so busy perving at the guard dog making the coffee that you forgot what you were there for.”

“Shut. Up.”

Miroku grinned at her. “Aw, little Kagome finally got a crush on someone. Were you struck by Cupid’s arrow?” he teased, throwing the phrase she’d used before back at her with a note of triumph in his voice. Kagome squirmed under his knowing gaze, and he chuckled. “Looks like Cupid’s been pretty busy with his arrows around that coffee shop, huh?”

Kagome made a growling noise in the back of her throat, then the corners of her lips curled up in a knowing smile. She blinked at him innocently, raising her takeaway cup.

“You may be right Miroku. You may be right. And I’m thinking the best way to get to know him will be to buy coffee. Lots of coffee. I hope you’re ready to pay up, buddy!” She sipped her coffee and patted him on his suddenly slumping shoulders as she walked past him into the foyer of the building and back to her desk full of filing, savouring every last drop.

  ☕💘☕

 Inuyasha pondered as he polished the already gleaming coffee maker. Sango had just left for the day, after balancing the till, and he was doing a final clean up, ensuring everything would be ready for 7am opening.

That girl. Kagome. She’d been staring at him. Usually that made him feel intensely uncomfortable. Growing up in an orphanage had internalised that being stared at was a bad thing, because pain caused by kids much larger and stronger than him usually followed close behind. That was until he’d been there so long that he was the large and strong one, handing out punches to anyone picking on the tiny ones. But he hadn’t got that uncomfortable feeling from her when she’d stared.

He knew he was considered attractive by some people. But her looking at him hadn’t given him that slimy creepy feeling that being ogled purely for looks gave him either. She had looked at him like he was a puzzle she wanted to work out.

He tried to picture her in his mind’s eye, but all he really remembered was dark shining hair like a corvid’s wing, and very blue eyes. She’d been small too, very petite. He rolled her name around in his head, as it tugged on a memory, and he suddenly thought of the rhyming game from his childhood about a bird caught in a cage. It was fitting – her mannerisms reminded him of a little bird - a wren, with bright inquisitive eyes. And when he’d looked up at her and caught her staring, she’d flapped her wings in fright and flown away. He chuckled. He hoped she wasn’t caught in a cage of some sort. No one deserved that.

He shut off the lights to the tiny shop, and walked into the studio behind it, flopping down on his bed with his laptop, ready to spend another evening struggling through his online English class. A little orange fluffball of a kitten jumped on to his lap, trying to sit on the keys, and he pushed it off.

“Shippou! Dame!”

The kitten settled down next to his thigh, snuggling against him and purring, and he turned his attention back to the screen. It was hard, learning a language this way, but he was determined. He had escaped his own cage, and he was never going back.

☕💘☕

PART TWO

[leeuwchen]

Can you write the 14 for Angst and Fluff for Ringsy? Thank you.

This one took a while but here it is (including minor spoilers)

“Can you shut up for once in your life?” –

“Am I your lockscreen?” “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

 If Easy Winter had to rate the different versions of Richard Beckmann, this one would be particularly difficult to put a number on. Sleepy Ringo for example is shockingly cute in 8 out of 10 times and therefore easily a candidate for a high score.  Hungry Ringo on the other hand is almost always unpredictable and can go from weirdly hot to downright annoying within a split second but would still nick 9 out of 10 points because he looks so content when being fed that one can’t help but falling in love with him all over again. And then there is Smug Ringo, like the one standing right in front of him inside the kiosk now, who is clearly meaning no harm but saying all the wrong things, nevertheless.

“Sorry, but can you please repeat, what you did to my place?”

“I reorganized it.”

Easy takes a look around and sighs.

“Reorganizing, you say? Reorganizing is putting the chocolate bars from the right-hand to the left-hand side because they are easier to grab for you from there but this…”

He has no idea how to finish the sentence without sounding too annoyed. There are new shiny price tags on all of his products and a plastic-coated list with new “buy together - combination deals” that Ringo probably would call improvised but is still looking more professional than most of the stuff Easy has put up here lately. It must have cost his husband a great deal of his working day to come up with this concept.

“How long did all of this take, Ringo?”

The tall guy in front of him shrugs nonchalantly.

“Ahhh, don’t worry about that. I had your numbers before-hand since I did  your taxes yesterday, so I knew your price calculation was a bit…”

“A bit what?”

Ringo furrows his brows tentatively.

“A bit… not so good?”

“Meaning?”

There is a long sigh coming from very deep-down Ringo’s chest before he calmly tries to answer the question, clearly feeling that they are at the verge of a fight now.

“Bärchen…”

“Don’t you Bärchen me now, Hase, I mean it. The kiosk is doing just fine without you meddling with my calculations.”

“Exactly, Easy. It is doing just fine. But it could do so much better. Here… take a look at today’s earnings and you’ll see what I mean.”

Ringo opens the cash register and yes – no need to count there – this is more than Easy would have made on an average Sunday, he has enough experience to see that right away. So why isn’t he happy about it? Why does he feel like picking a fight? He knows Ringo is the smart one… he always has been… and normally it doesn’t bother Easy. He knows Ringo is unchallenged at the moment, having no job and no real perspective for once in his life. He should just let him have this… but he can’t, and he doesn’t know why. Meanwhile, Ringo is still looking at the money he made proudly. “Oh”, he suddenly exclaims, “and Leni still owes us 2 more Euro since she didn’t have enough money to pay for her soft drink and chocolate sugar rush…”

“Leni doesn’t have to pay more than before… she’s family!”

“First rule when owning a business: No family favours!”

“Bit rich coming from someone who never pays.”

Ringo chuckles softly and helps himself to some wine gum.

“Okay, let’s say I am the one exception you are allowed to make.”

“Allowed to?”

There is a warning in Easy’s voice but Ringo seems completely oblivious to it. In his world, showing his husband the money clearly is enough to prove himself and his arrangements right.

“Well, I won’t write a penalty scale or something like that but you should really listen to me. I’ve studied business administration after all. I know how to avoid suboptimal calculations. Just don’t worry about it if you are not interested in doing the mathematics yourself. It’s peanuts to me, really. And you know what else? I must admit… I never thought of this place like that, but it does have some potential. If only you would - ”

“Can you shut up for once in your life?”

The words are out of his mouth quickly and they are not even true. Sure, they both can get wordy at times (who in this street can’t?) but they are also good at finding the exit, giving the other one some space and getting back to their respective points calmly after a while. So, this whole shut up for once-stuff is hell of an unfair thing to say and Easy knows that but it’s too late now as Ringo has indeed shut his mouth and nods silently before turning around to leave.

“Honey, I…”

But his husband is out of the door already and for a moment, Easy waits for the door of the kiosk to slam shut behind him but it doesn’t and somehow he doesn’t feel relieved by the silence.

                                                        *

“Sorry, but I think, you gave me too much change. The tag says 2.50 - There.”

The young woman points at one of Ringo’s new signs and shows Easy the money in the palm of her hand. He raises his shoulders defensively.

“No, no. It’s still 2.25, forget the sign. My new temp mixed up some of the prices.”

She smiles at him.

“Okay, cool. I was just wondering and didn’t want to trick you.”

“Don’t worry. Everything around here stays the same.”

The woman walks away and grinning Leni steps up to the window holding up a coin.

“So, I don’t have to pay you the 2 Euro?”

“Of course not… just forget it, please.”

Leni puts the money back into her pocket and takes the wine gum Easy is handing out to her. “Good, but don’t forget to tell, Ringo”, she says while chewing, “out of all of my dads around here, he is the strict one.” Easy smiles.

“He didn’t mean it like that. He just wanted to help my business.”

“And did he?”

Sighing Easy helps himself to a chocolate bar and narrows his eyes thoughtfully.

“He did.”

“But?”

“He might have been a little bit… overachieving.”

“I’m shocked and surprised… since normally he is known as such a laid-back person.”

Easy chuckles quietly.

“I know, I know… you can’t hand him a project and expect him not to act on his business instincts. But you know what’s really bad?”

“What?”

“I acted like a complete asshole.”

Reaching through the window to get some more sweets Leni eyes him suspiciously.

“Well, now I’m really shocked. Shall I set up a fake photo shooting a bit outside of town to get you two to talk things over or would it be enough to take over your shift here so you can go and apologize?”

“Would you do that?”

“What do you think?”

                                                         *

 Tobias and Vivien are standing in the kitchen cooking together when Easy enters the flat share.

“Oh, hi. Is Ringo in our room?”

Tobias shakes his head while putting his hands around his girlfriend.

“Do you really think your hubby would voluntarily stay away from food? Unless… were the two of you fighting?”

“No! Well… not proper fighting… I… I said a pretty stupid thing. Really, really stupid.”

“Well, then”, Tobias says calmly and points to the ceiling with his index finger, “I would have a look around the roof top terrace if I were you and hope that my brother hasn’t picked up a hot blonde on his way up there… hey.” He rubs his rip cage with indignation as Vivien has forcefully pushed her elbow there. “Don’t be an ass!”, she tells her boyfriend who gently puts his face against her shoulder holding her closer and with a small trace of jealousy Easy leaves them alone, heading to the roof.

Ringo is sitting in the small hut, his laptop in front of him. Carefully, Easy knocks on the door frame.

“Can I come in?”

Ringo looks up from his work.

“Well, there is an entrance fee but since you are family I am not allowed to take it - so be my guest.”

His words don’t sound like a real invitation so Easy decides to lean against the door frame instead.

“I’m sorry I told you to shut up when you weren’t saying anything wrong… and even if you had been saying something wrong that wouldn’t have been an acceptable way to handle a dispute.”

Ringo nods and hums approvingly.

“I only wanted to be helpful and the new prices weren’t unreasonable. They were still fair offers.”

“I know”, Easy mumbles and pushes himself away from the hut’s frame to slowly walk inside.  “It’s me, really. I am really emotional when it comes to the kiosk, you know?”

Ringo chuckles.

“I might have noticed. But I meant no harm. Nothing would have happened to it.”

Strolling around the inside of the hut, Easy tries to find the right words.

“As a photographer I do like all the different locations, the weird customers, the constant change… the challenges… but when it comes to the kiosk, I want everything to stay the way it is. The same people coming back there every day buying the same stuff, having a nice chat, mostly about the same two or three topics. It’s home. Well, no… you are home… but it’s still something very emotional and to me the kiosk doesn’t need to do more than provide for a fair living so when you made all these changes it felt like you were belittling what I have built there and that striked a nerve. I’m sorry, I know you only meant well.”

He is looking down at the man sitting on the old worn-out sofa. Ringo is looking grave, fumbling around his nose bridge with one finger for a few moments before clearing his throat.

“I see. Well… we all have our soft spots, I guess. You see, whenever you tell me that I meant well it reads to me that I may have meant well but still acted like same old evil Ringo.”

“Wait? What?”

Easy is sitting on the couch next to his husband before even realising.

“That’s not what it means. Not at all. We have left that behind for good, okay? You don’t need to prove yourself to me and you are allowed to make mistakes like everyone around here does without being judged harder because of stuff you did in the past and it wasn’t even a mistake, it was… wait… Am I your lockscreen?”

“You weren’t supposed to see that.”

With a swift movement Ringo pushes the screen of his laptop down but Easy is still grinning at him when he turns around again.

“Why am I your lockscreen? I thought your lockscreen was supposed to be something you envision for your future or something you identify with like this ridiculous picture of a shark Huber has put up in his office.”

“I think, you kind of answered your question yourself”, Ringo mumbles softly, putting an arm around Easy’s shoulder, pulling him closer to his side.

“Getting rejections to all of my applications isn’t the nicest experience so from time to time I like to look at something that makes me feel better about life… myself… the future.”

“And that’s me?”

Ringo rolls his eyes.

“Now that’s fishing for compliment but yes – if you must hear it – it’s you. Always you… well, almost always. I sometimes have a look around Saskia’s bakery webpage to decide which pastry will cure my poor unemployed soul but I guess that’s the kind of cheating we both can live with, right?”

Smiling, Easy nudges his nose against the soft skin of Ringo’s neck.

“Maybe. But better not tell me too much about it, I can be unreasonably at times and I am again very sorry for how I acted today.”

He gently kisses his husband’s cheek, waiting for Ringo to turn around for a proper kiss but the other one just sighs and lets his finger run through some of the curly dark hair in Easy’s neck.

“Don’t worry about it anymore, okay? It gave me a business idea after all.”

“It did? Well, let’s hear it then!”

Easy frees himself from Ringo’s hug and sits up excitedly. Ringo seems to be a bit unsure for about one second but when Easy nods at him encouragingly, said insecurity vanishes visibly.

“Well, I thought… not all small businesses are against change… and there have to be tons of people who just started or took over a business and don’t adapt numbers as quickly as I do so they would be thankful for someone going over their calculations pointing out flaw- I mean, not so well designed strategies. I have already emailed someone I know from university about it who went into that direction in Frankfurt… not that I really need the advice.”

“Of course not, you are Richard Beckmann after all.”

“So, what do you think?”

Ringo is looking positively excited now and Jumpy Ringo is a solid 10 in 10 out of 10 times so Easy can’t help but kiss him hard before he answers his husband’s question.

“It does sound like the perfect thing for you to do.”

“You really think so?”

“I do.”

There is a sigh of relief coming from Ringo and his upper body kind of slums back against the sofa’s backrest.

“Oh good, because I wasn’t sure if I might be losing it.”

Contently, Easy rests his head on Ringo’s chest, putting his arm around his slender waist.

“I really think, you would do well as a freelancer. Huber was always holding you back and claiming the glory for all your hard work.”

“Yeah, getting some appreciation would be nice for a change.”

For a while they are sitting there in silence, huddled together until suddenly Ringo’s cell phone beeps and he wiggles around a bit helplessly because Easy is not willing to give up his comfy sleeping position on his chest. When he finally manages to get his mobile and checks the message, he chuckles triumphantly. “What is it?”, Easy inquires drowsily and the telephone’s screen is pushed in front of his nose showing a picture of Leni who has put up today’s earnings in little towers of coins on the kiosk’s desk. “You have to read her message as well”, Ringo demands. Easy scrolls down to the picture’s caption. 

“RICHARD BECKMANN, BUSINESS GOD!”, he reads proudly.

[katandabbieslife]

Wednesday, December 12th, Kat Buys a Farm.

As some of you know, we like to post our stories in a chronological order. Spring semester got busy for us and unfortunately, a story was delayed in being posted. Now that school is back in and school isn’t too crazy at the moment, I am trying to post stuff I’ve had written for a while, but wasn’t posted for sake of keeping things in order. The previous story was Kat’s story about my all girls birthday/slumber party.  This story takes place a week and a half later just as our finals week was wrapping up. She or I might have mentioned in one of the stories from our Thanksgiving break about being out on the horses and running into their neighbors that own the farm on their northern property line.

 For those interested, this update is about the Wednesday, December 12th and I’m writing while we were on Winter break, visiting Kat’s parents. Many stories, I write down lots of details while they are fresh in my mind and go back to flesh out the story when I have time. This is just in case you wonder why I talk in past tense some times during stories.

For those who don’t know, Kat’s parents own a huge horse farm. Kat and Rick are also listed as part owners and employees of the family company. During our Thanksgiving break, we were on the farm. One day we went out for a ride on a couple of the horses. We were riding along a trail to the northern edge of the property and we saw a couple on ATV’s near the fence line and we rode up to check things out. It was the couple who owns the farm to the north of the property and they were only out inspecting the property line because they were getting ready to sell. They hadn’t lived on the property for the last 2 years, opting for something closer to civilization. As I’ve said before. The Closest neighbor is 8 miles away, and the house is up a 2 miles long private drive. Their house is only about 3 or 4 miles north, but since the house was vacant, there were no neighbors within 8 miles. We talked to them for a few minutes and Kat was asking questions about their farm and their kids, she went to school with them and remembered them on the bus and how they used to come across the fence and swim in one of the lakes. She asked about the Stream/Creek on their property and they said it was still flowing nicely after all these years. She asked about the house, the house is in great shape for being vacant for a few years. Then Kat gave them her number and said she’d talk to her parents. They said great since they hadn’t officially put it on the market yet and would prefer a private sale to avoid a real estate agents fee which can get pretty high when dealing with farms. Kat asked permission to check it out the next day when we had more time and daylight. They said “Sure and that they wouldn’t be there but it would be fine. Then they passed Kat a spare key to the house. On the way back to the house, Kat talked about how beautiful their place was and how she used to go over to play with their little girl when she was younger. She told me it would be awesome to add that to the farm. Around this time last year, her parents bought the slightly larger farm on their western property line and now, there was a farm slightly smaller than their original farm on the northern property line, and Kat wanted to tell her parents about it, she wanted them to put in an offer to buy it. We got back to the farm that evening and Kat mentioned it to her father who told her that he knew the place, but wasn’t sure about buying it. He wanted her to give him good, solid reasons why they should buy it. Since Kat is taking some Business administration classes, she decided she’d come up with a quick “proposal” for the purchase. She went through all the costs and fees, yearly taxes, advantages to having the extra land. She even listed reason against, just to be fair and show her father that she was seriously thinking through on all the angles. Tuesday before Thanksgiving, she actually made an appointment with him to meet in his office, a quarter of a mile from the house, in the stable barn. She gave her little proposal, they talked it over and he said ok, but she found the place, she had to do it. This was her project and as part owner and employee, she had to do the work. He told her if she didn’t want to do it, it was ok, but that he would not take over and make the deal on his own, he explained he had many other things coming, one of which was an auction for several of the Dutch Warmblood show horses. (I think they have around 80-90 horses on the farm.) She was in a bit of a panic, this was a lot of money she’d be dealing with and could hurt the company a little if things went wrong. She asked if he would help her at all and he said he’d be there for her in an advisory capacity alone, nothing more. She told him she’d think about it and give him her answer the next day, he agreed and she came home to tell me about it. She decided she would talk to the owners to get an initial sale price and decided she would tell her Dad she’d do it. I explained set your limit, negotiate and if they will not settle, she doesn’t have to buy it and the farm will not lose any money. After Thanksgiving, She was on the phone and in Skype with them several times. She asked her parents on the “wiggle room” on the price and they gave her an absolute upper limit based on what they thought would be the absolute highest price they’d pay for it. After several phone calls and actually very little negotiation since they said Kats initial offer was reasonable, only about $15,000 lower than what they finally settled on. The night before, she was in a panic mode, telling me “Omg baby, what if I fuck this up?” I kept telling her she was doing great. She talked about how the most expensive things she has ever dealt with was her car. She bought a BMW X3, for school, with her parent’s money of course, but she bought it, She haggled, she made the deal, she did everything. This girl even negotiates prices at the flea markets and rummage sales we go to. She was in hyper mode all day the next day, then we got home at night from classes and she rushed around because we’re an hour behind in our time zone. She stripped off the clothes she wore to school, got dressed in kind of a business casual look sat down and opened her laptop and stared at the screen for a good 5 minutes before placing the call. I laid on the couch a few feet away behind the laptop, played around on Twitter, and half listened in and I was so proud of her. I heard them laughing at her jokes. I heard them tell her they were impressed with her offer and how she took the lead on this from her father. They talked about how they remember her, just 10 years ago, coming over to go play with their daughter, braided pigtails and all. Now here she was, buying their farm for her parents. I may have teared up a little hearing them talk about her. I was so proud of my little one. Just proud to be the one this amazing person wants to be with.

They went over a few more details and the she told them she’d get the contracts revised with the new prices and fee’s and a couple requirements dealing with structures on the property. Keep in mind, she did all this during review and finals week and still made the Dean’s list, and managed to ace her exams. I heard her say good bye, I heard the lap top close and I heard nothing else. I looked over the back of the couch and she was staring blankly at the wall and I could see tears in her eyes. I decided to give her a minute to calm down and she came bouncing over the couch on top of me, wiping her eyes and exclaiming “OMG baby! I just bought the farm! I’m 20 years old and I bought a fucking farm!” Her smile said it all and I started crying myself. I grabbed her and wrapped my arms around her neck and held her so close. My girlfriend just bought a farm and I was so proud of her and didn’t want to let her go right then, but it was already 10pm back home and she still had to call her parents and email the revisions to their attorney. I let her go so she could do her work and I got back to studying for I think my last final. I finished studying and while she was on the phone with Mom (hers), I played around on my phone.

When everything was done, we jumped in the shower where I began kissing every inch of her gorgeous body. I let my hands slide down her sides, caressing her butt and squeezing her cheeks, spreading them slightly, as I kissed my way down her chest, over her belly. I twirled my tongue around her belly button a few times as I renewed my grasp on her butt and spread her cheeks further, letting my middle fingers on each hand tease her perfect little butthole, I felt her force outward to open slightly as I let one slip in for a light finger fuck. I began kissing her mound, letting my tongue slip down to the top of her slit and teasing her hood as I swirled around, almost digging under to tease her clit. I finally settled on my knees and grabbed her ankle to raise her leg and let her rest it on my shoulder. She leaned against the back of the shower wall and I was able to slide my tongue back to her asshole. Teasing and tonguing it a bit before running my tongue up through her slit, tasting her juices and sucking on her clit. I let go of her leg and slid my hand down to my own wet little pussy and buried two fingers deep inside as I licked out my beautiful girlfriend. She grabbed the back of my head and began to grind up and down on my mouth, letting me know I was doing well. After another 30 seconds, I felt her legs begin to shake before her back slid down the shower wall, and she was sitting in front of me, shaking, and staring me in the eye as I continued fucking myself. She grabbed my hand and replaced it with her own as she got to her knees in front of me and began kissing my neck, my forehead, and then my lips as she continued fucking my wet little slit with her fingers. I rocked my hips back and forth on her hand. As she forced more in me, I tried hard to force myself further on her hand as I rocked back and forth.  I leaned in, toward her, and gently bit her neck while I slowly bounced on her fingers.

  She was doing everything perfect and I did not want things to ends for the night, but we had finals in the morning and needed sleep. We made out for another minute or so, got out and dried each other off, and jumped in bed. I rolled over, back into my big spoon and told her how very proud I am of her, not just for the purchase of the farm for her families company, but for doing it all, during end of semester review and during finals week. She shocked her dad by moving forward so fast. He even told her she had time to get finals, and even the holidays out of the way first, but as I well know, Kat goes after what she wants. She does not give someone else the chance to jump in and make the first move, or make a better offer. She sees something she wants and she takes steps to make it hers and I love her for it, more and more each day.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #178

“for such a little thing, you sure are in your own way.”

What’s your favorite type of bird? Barn owls are actual deities. What was on the last sandwich you ate? Pb & j. What sort of music did you listen to when you were in high school? Same stuff I listen to now, although I had a mild screamo-ish phase. Have you ever gotten back together with an ex? No. How far away is the closest store to your house and what is it? Some cheap dollar store in the town, dunno names. What is your favorite Thai dish? Haven't tried any. When was the last time you made out with somebody? Over a month back. What month of the year was your mother born? August. Are there any candles in your bedroom, and what scent are they? No. What TV show(s) have you been watching currently? None. How many apps do you have on your phone? Six. My phone has so, so little storage ugh. Have you ever dated a smoker? If not, would you? No to both. Are there any movies you’ve seen so many times? Yeah, sure. Of course a lot as a kid, Finding Nemo and The Lion King 1 & 2 especially, then I've watched both Blair Witch Project movies a lot, Jim Carrey's How the Grinch Stole Christmas... How would you describe your sense of humor? Sarcastic. What’s your favorite type of bread? Pumpernickel. Do you share a middle name with any of your siblings? Yeah. Have there ever been any brushfires/wildfires in your area? Yeah. What did you have to eat for dinner last night? Nothing (Thanksgiving was lunch). Do you have separate emails for personal and business? No. Have you ever missed a flight? Yes. Do you know your significant other’s passwords? No, I have no reason to. Would you like to study abroad one day? No. Does someone have a crush on you but you don’t feel the same way? Idk. Who do you feel most beautiful around? Sara. /v\ What’s one makeup item you cannot live without? I could easily live without any. Is there one thing all of your ex’s had in common? All guys. Did you french kiss before you were 16? No. Imagine your spouse just died; would you get re-married? I don't know if I would. Like... I'd never stop loving her, so "moving on" to someone else just because she's no longer physically here would feel disloyal. What’s your favorite thing about life? New, fun experiences and creating strong bonds with people like you. Who pays for the first date? Idrc, but probably whoever proposed the date? Or split the bill? Have you ever had a friend that got a bf/gf, and then completely ignored you? Yeah. Do you play any computer games, if so, what ones? Not currently 'cuz my gaming laptop has to be fixed. :| When it is and I have my own income, I might return to WoW, but I'm not sure. I think the subscription is kinda high, and I have more important things to handle. What is the funniest movie you’ve ever seen? Idk why I find White Chicks so goddamn funny. What lyric means the most to you? Off the very top of my head, "A bloody war behind my eyes; I'll come all right on the other side" from "Free" by Mother Mother. Really makes me think of all I've been through but how I keep coming out stronger. Who is the smartest person you know? Girt. What’s the next movie you will see in theaters? Idk. Are you adopted? No. What band do you like that most people hate? You canNOT look me in the face and say you don't like at least one Nickelback song. I don't get the hate. Any new bands that you actually enjoy? Oh idk. What is your escape from reality? RPing. Do you have any self-inflicted scars on your arms? You can only just barely see them. Do you like “scene” hair? YEAH AND I ALWAYS FUCKING WANTED IT BUT I COULD NEVER POSE IT CORRECTLY 'CUZ MY HAIR WAS TOO THICK AND HEAVY. Have your parents ever been to jail? No. If your friend asked you to hold their drugs, would you? Definitely not. Does it scare you when a relationship moves too fast? Y E A H Would you ever consider hitchhiking? I don't know if I would even in a desperate situation... I don't trust people. Have you ever hitchhiked? No. Have you ever been to a music festival? No. What color car do you want to have? Burnt orange. Would you rather hike a mountain or explore a cave? Explore a cave!!! Would you rather wear a flower crown or veil? Probably a veil? Do you believe peace on earth is attainable? I honestly don't believe so. What type of tattoo do you want? s o  m a n y What is your favorite insect? Butterflies. Would you ever live in the desert? Nooooo. Fuck the heat. Is your town beautiful? I don't really live in one, but the closest town isn't. Which season do you want to get married in? Autumn. Are totem poles cool? YEAH! Favorite art forms? Conceptual photography. What kind of music do you enjoy? Plenty sorts of metal, rock, and alternative. Do you have any gay friends? Yeah. Where is your favorite place to go? The zoo, even though I have mixed feelings about them... Do you know your dad? Yeah. How often do you get on Facebook? At least once a day. Are you related to anyone who’s in prison? Don't think so?? What concerts are you attending in the near future? Y'ALL I MIGHT FUCKING SEE OZZY IN JANUARY. He and Megadeth are coming to Charlotte and the tickets aren't too bad. :') It's a loooong drive but Mom was like "hell yeah" when I told her and wants to buy tickets after she gets her tax return AH. Metallica is a possibility too, but Mom doesn't think she can afford it. If you were kicked out of your house, where would you go first? Dad's. What are you currently looking forward to? Sara's b-day, Christmas, hopefully getting my laptop fixed, aforementioned concerts, and school. What was the reason you got grounded for last? Idk, that was a long time ago. But most likely for "talking back" to Mom. The last two people you kissed, are they virgins? Yes; probably not. Is there a guy that knows everything or mostly everything about you? Yeah. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed? A bit to the left. If you could have anything delivered to your doorstep each morning, what would it be? Um,,, money?????? What is one vacation destination that many people think is just fabulous but which you personally have no desire to visit (or revisit)? New York City. Heard from my sister it's a shithole with the craziest and rudest people known to Planet Earth. I'm not big on cities, anyway. Which animated character is your all-time favorite? Uhhhhhh... Dory, maybe? If you could own a home on the shore of any body of water in the world, which waterfront would you choose? I WANT THE PINK BEACHES OF THE BAHAMAS. But I'm scared of the Bermuda Triangle so will probably never see them. :'''''') What serves as the greatest motivation for you in your daily life? MY RECOVERY. If I got through what I have, I can't ever give up and roll back down that hill. I'm focusing to always improve. If you could have any round object in the world, what spherical item would you want? t h e  g a m e s p h e r e ,  l a d s If you were left alone for one hour with nothing more than a pen and a notepad, what would you be inclined to draw or write during those 60 minutes? Practice eyes or start a poem. If you could witness anything at all in super-slow motion, what would you want to see? Hmmm... OH, maybe a big cat's tongue licking meat. See how it actually shears tiny bits off. Cats' tongues are cool. What do you forget to do more often than anything else? Take my anxiety med at the right time. If you could teach everyone in the world one skill, what would it be? Compassion. You’ve been offered the chance to paint a billboard along a highway with any message you choose, as long as it’s only 10 words long. What is your message? Oh jeez, I'd have to think too hard on this. Who’s the last guy to give you roses? Tyler. Did your parents do drugs when they were younger? Not to my knowledge, and I doubt they would've. Do you have any relatives who live on a different continent than you? I don't believe so. What are your religious beliefs? Were you raised with those beliefs, or did you develop them on your own? I'm a theist, entailing I believe in a creator, but I know nothing about him/her/it. I personally picture them as a peaceful and sage deity that allows life to go on without it intervening anywhere, letting the world evolve on its own and see how we adapt to our unique settings and handle life. In the end, I believe we are either given some form of paradise or a type of damnation depending on how you wrote your story. I like to imagine the good go to their personal vision of "Heaven," and I wonder if the paranormal activity some experience in life are the acts of the damned, apparently confined to remain on Earth or something. Anyway, I wasn't raised with such beliefs; they were developed. I was brought up Catholic, then I turned to just simple Christianity as I didn't agree with a lot of Catholic ideas, and most recently I abruptly turned away from that in favor of theism. How did you and your significant other celebrate your last anniversary? We went out for breakfast. What has been your favorite house/apartment/etc you’ve ever lived in? My last house for location, as a house itself, my childhood one. What’s something in your house that currently needs to be cleaned? I need to vacuum my room. Do you still remember any of the dreams or nightmares you had as a child? Yup. What’s the most bizarre conspiracy theory you’ve ever heard of? The world is donut-shaped. Yeah. Do you have a good sense of direction? Not. At. All. Who was your first crush? Did you ever actually date them? Dylan, and no. What’s the weirdest, rudest, or most ridiculous thing a guest has ever done in your home? Who knows. Has anyone ever told you you’re manipulative? I don't think so. Do you know anyone who owns their own business? No. When was the last time you weren’t 100% sober? Uhhh maybe that movie night with Colleen and Chelsea. Is obtaining a college degree something that is important to you? Well, for my possible career future. Have you ever eaten at a vegan restaurant? No. Do you view substance abuse as a disease or a choice? I have... mixed feelings here. Starting something, that is indisputably a choice. Becoming addicted though, I'm not sure. Some people have addictive personalities so have a bigger inclination to become addicted, but isn't that just a personal trait/weakness you can fight?? I dunno. I know it's labelled as a disease by people way more informed than me though, so. What does the last text you sent say? Don't feel like checking. Does it bother you when people call you ‘ma'am’ or ‘sir?’ No. I live in the South, that's polite. Have you ever been obsessed with a television character? Does Dory count for movies? ha ha Do you ever wish you had powers of invisibility? Not really. What was the last thing that changed your life completely? Recovery. Do you have any step siblings? One. Have you ever been questioned by the police? No. In which state/country were you born? NC, U.S.A. Have you ever been to an amusement park out of state? Disney World. What do you normally drink when eating at a fast food restaurant? Coke or Mountain Dew. Have the police ever been looking for you? Not because I did something wrong; I've told the beach story a few times. If you chew gum, which kind is your favorite? I love the watermelon Hubba Bubba one asjfawoeu Have you ever kissed someone of the same sex? Yeah. What was the last liquid that you choked on? Water, just this morning when I was taking my meds ah. How many times did you wake up today before actually getting up? Well, I woke up once in the middle of the night like usual, then I woke up at like, 6-something and went back to sleep. Who did you celebrate your last birthday with? Mom, sises, Ash's husband and kids, and Dad stopped by. Was your last kiss initiated by you or the other person? I think it was kinda a simultaneous thing. We were saying bye. Do you buy a ton of things at the store at once or just for that day? Mom does the shopping, but it depends on how much time she has and what's at the house. When getting dressed do you put your pants or shirt on first? Pants. When you kiss a person where do your hands usually go? I actually don't know if it's a consistent thing for me??? I don't kiss anyone regularly so I don't recognize a pattern. What is one song you listen to that you’re sure not many people do? "False Flags," probs. Massive Attack is so neglected of the attention they deserve. Do you use a handrail on stairs if there is one? Yes, I'm scared of tripping. What was the last thing you saw that made you smile? Teddy came right up into my face wanting attention. What is your favorite drinking game? Never played any. Do you have any tattoos that you don’t like anymore? I think I've mentioned why I don't love my "ohana" one now. I'm getting it covered at some point. My "perfectly flawed" one is probably getting covered by a much bigger piece; I picked a bad location for it to want a sleeve. I'd just maybe redesign it, put if somewhere else. Do you have a shower curtain or door? Curtain. Who was the last person from your high school graduating class you saw? Probs Colleen? Who was the last non-relative you hung out with? Sara. Are you listening to anything right now? I'm way too obsessed with "Black Wedding" by In This Moment (feat. Rob Halford). Rob makes it, and the chorus is awesome. How many keys are on your keychain? One. Who was the last person you took a photograph with? Ryder, my nephew. Are you left handed? No. What were you most scared of when you were little? Losing my mom/being separated from her. Are you biracial? No. When was the last time you painted your nails? What color(s)? I couldn't even guess. Has a stranger ever offered to buy you a drink? Thank fuck no. Have you ever overflown a bathtub? Don't think so. What’s at the top of your to-do list in life? Stay positive, never stop aiming to improve. What was the last thing you shared? Well, Thanksgiving food. Where are you most ticklish? Feet. Do not- Which cartoon character do you want to keep as a pet? Uhhhh how 'bout an Espeon. I imagine them to be calm and silently affectionate like cats and very intelligent. Have you ever considered a career in music/acting? No. When was the last time you felt seriously embarrassed? Getting food yesterday. Per usual, let things die down, but I still ended up crammed in a corner, unable to go in any direction while someone was trying to get past me. I was headed for an anxiety attack and felt like a total nuisance. I'm pretty sure it showed in how I was whipping my head around, shuffling in various directions, clearly wanting the fuck out. Have you ever liked a song, looked up the lyrics to it, then hated it? No, lyrics can't ruin a song I like the sound of. What would be the icing on the cake for you this Christmas? A PS4, omg. I have to get my laptop fixed and a new camera, so I highly doubt I'm getting that or a tablet considering cost. I want to play the Spyro Reignited trilogy beyond words, like I refuse to even watch a let's play because I want to experience it all first-hand, but. Yeah, unlikely anytime soon. If you had the opportunity to live forever, would you take it? Noooooo. Do you like quesadillas? Only chicken and/or cheese ones. Did you like the show Invader Zim? I surprisingly never saw it. What’s the greatest/most influential song you’ve ever heard? "Life Won't Wait" by Ozzy always makes me wanna get off my ass and do something. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen in a grocery store? A HUGE BOX OF ANIMAL HEADS IN THE MIDDLE OF WAL-MART, BECKONING THE FURRIES INTO ITS DEPTHS. Have you ever bought yourself a present on Christmas? No. Well, I've used money I've been given on Christmas, if that counts. Have you ever been on a mechanical bull? No. Do you need a key card to get into the building you live in? No. Have you ever stepped in chewing gum? Yes. Name all the people you know that you’ve seen today. Just Mom.

[larissaloki]

Larissaloki homelife rants

Ok this is a major rant to get things off my chest and f have trigger warnings for suicide and depression and such things, dont read. Ps this post i an absolute mess of a rant.

Ok so I’m only 2fucking4, and i am already wanting life to just bloody end. Literally life is killing me. Not to be a whiny millennial but life is fucking difficult for any singular person to get by. Everything in governments are pretty much based (at least it seems in the uk) on relying on a good network of people around you.

I have a loose network of people and none i can depend on financially. I mean this as nicely as possible and ill explain why. My best friend that help me is dealing with trying to find her own way in life and save money and i working nearly all the time to get by. All grandparents are either working full time still at their age or medically unable to help out.

When i was childless i had an ok life but i was still with mum unable to save up to move out. At least not by myself. But i had plans for uni out of my home county. Courses that require me to not be pregnant.

I fell pregnant as contraception failed me. The guy i was with didn’t want kids but I’m against abortions unless needed. I was medically healthy and at the time i had lots of support from my mum so I made the decision to keep. I managed to get a fairly good job that worked around my lifestyle and my mums hours and was coping great.

Then things slowly fell apart. My mum kept changing hours to the point i was unable to have a stable baby sitter for when i needed to work. The other grandparent works full time and so would be unable to help. So i regretfully had to resign from work to stay home.

Now a lot of people see to think people on benefits live great lives and have lots of money. No we don’t.

Bills still need paying. They rack up while your waiting for said benefits to go through. I already suffer anxiety and depression and this just really set me off. Ive only been on benefits for 1 year and a half but i can already see the difference in spending. When i first started i could spend 30 out of my 60 I get a week for minimum amount of food and the rest for bus fair for appointments or to get around as i had a child in a buggy. The rest went on bills and replacing things that seemed to keep breaking and my rapidly growing child (i got a further 70 from another benefit a week which wa used on the stuff i just mentioned) i never had extra one so Christmas was a far off dream and pretty much sucked. I never felt so bad as unable to get anything great for my kid other than a few small items or cheap stuff or had my mum help me with.

Over the course of my time on benefits I’ve ended up spending more on food weekly as food prices (often nearer to 60-70 a week now) or bus fair rises (3;50 to being 4 pounds). My benefits don’t. From before where i had no extra money to begin with I’m nowhving to try and rebudget.

Over the course of the year my laptop broke that i use to battle depression by writing and job searching. My phone has broken and at the moment I’m burrowing old models from my best friend. I own literally nothing. Yet these things are required to be able to function in everyday society. I cant use library much as it requires bus fair to get to each day if i wanted to go and. Can’t go in each day anyway with a child that refuses to stay still. My son is energetic and even at 3 doesn’t sleep through the night. Wakes up 5;30 each morning at the moment.

As it is I’m sat at home each day every day wondering how the fuck am. Going to adjust next week money to pay so so bill?! Im already spending nearly 15 on jut electric alone at the moment. 12 for tv license, 40 for water and 10 for gas and finally 20 for council tax. Take in what i earn above plus adding once a month I get 80 which. Use for my water bill and bus fair each month.

All this is before i even get to my actual tv packages which are basic and my phone contract to be able to keep on the net and contact with family members that all live outside of my county.

If I didn’t have my son right now i honestly would have given up on life. I’m just tired of just fuckng going hungry to make sure my kid if healthy and happy. My body has pretty much gone into survival mode where every bit of food i do eat is stored in me making me actually gain weight even though i eat like a mouse!

I’m fucking tired of government trying to make it worse by cutting back certain benefit and yet giving themselves wages that rival footballers.

My son i what keeps me going his cheeky smiles and love and innocence gives me life to keep on. My bet friend also deserves thanks as without her support despite her own struggles and buying me food every now and again i would not be driven to do certain projects or would of had complete meltdowns. Bless zach’s other grandma that helps us as well when she can an buy’s us food occasionally.

Don’t take those that help you for granted. Cherish those that offer a hand despite everything else.

[holdmecloser-gandydancer]

Barry takes his glasses off and presses the heels of his hands against his eyes. He’s been staring at his computer for far too long today. The computer in question sits on the couch next to him, screen obscenely bright in his dim living room.

He’d been ignoring the emails that infiltrated his inbox with growing frequency and urgency, all of them riddled with subject lines like “Payment Plans for Upcoming Semester,” and “Payment Due Soon,” and “Seriously, You Owe Us Tens of Thousands of Dollars and We Aim to Collect.” You know, normal stuff.

He’d always figured that actually doing the coursework would be the hardest part of grad school, not figuring out how to fund it without owing his soul and first-born child to the federal government. But the fact of the matter is that he’s reached a dead end; most of everything his mom left him was used to pay off his undergrad loans some years back. His university has mentioned scholarships and work study but he’s convinced the scholarships are a myth and also his university declined to mention that the work study they offer doesn’t actually pay him in money, rather they just pay for three course credits. Don’t get him wrong, that’s better than nothing but that doesn’t help pay his rent or buy textbooks.

Once again he mourns the fact that the only applied arcane theory program that accepted him just had to be a private university many states away.

He returns his glasses to his face and pulls his laptop closer to him. He’s about three modules into his ten-module long loan counseling. It’s basically an online program that explains in excruciating detail just how deeply the federal government has his future in their pocket. “Oh, hey Barry! If you Ever fall behind on your loans, we can garnish your wages that already probably won’t be able to pay for a studio apartment in Neverwinter and also you’ll be paying these back for anywhere from ten to twenty five years! You also cannot declare bankruptcy because you live in hell!! Only way to get off the hook for these is if your school shuts down before you get your degree or you die! Now sign on the dotted line after you hyperventilate a little when you look at just how much money you’re going to be responsible for!”

The whole process makes his stomach hurt; there’s no good reason education should be this much. He’s going to be saddled with loans worth more than any yearly salary he could hope to have and now he’s gotta pay them back or die.

Wait.

He rereads the loan forgiveness terms. “If your loan servicer receives acceptable documentation of your death, your federal student loans will be discharged,” he reads to himself. He's got it.

He lets loose a laugh that borders on maniacal and roots around for his phone. It rings once before someone picks up on the other end.

“Lup!” He whoops.

“Bear? What’s up? You sound extremely excitable right now.”

“Okay, remember when you wanted to get married for tax benefits?”

“I do! I also remember you turned me down because you didn’t want to our marriage to be for convenience.”

Barry laughs to himself. “Yeah, I still stand by that.”

“You sap,” she sighs fondly.

“Well, I think I found a way to scam the federal government through a loophole.”

“Gods I love when you talk dirty to me!”

“We can talk more when you come home but I can almost promise you neither of us are paying off our student loans.”

“Barry, I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about and I can’t wait to hear your devious plan. Love you!”

“Love you.” He clicks end on the call and looks around for his theoretical necromancy notes from a few semesters ago.

[thtktgrl]

Went to bed a little after midnight… Also, I drink a lot of decaf tea yesterday decaf had a little bit of caffeine in it, not really sure the content so that may have been a factor? Not sure. Sarah canceled on me, texting Susan to see if she still wants to me. Even if she doesn't wanna do the massage I hope she still pays me like last time. Josh texted me last night that we may go on a two-week locked down. don't appear to have any new acne, but I'm a little nervous to weigh myself because I've been eating more lately especially at night.  i'm actually under my goal weight! I'm switching to just decaf today. In the shower nicked myself with a razor. Not gonna lie it kind of bothered me. It's not a big deal and I hate the small stuff like that bothers me. Took my birth control minute late but didn't care about that. I have two very small pimples on my skin but they're barely noticeable a day progresses. Did something I should've done a look at my exes Facebook he just bought a house. Where he was living before hand was extremely cheap & he has his G.I. Bill, it's not really about him specifically, it's just when I think of other people I know who have husbands and homes and are beautiful and doing all this traveling and more active social lives it kind of makes me feel bad about my own life.  Play actual mood has not been low throughout the day. I am noticing some heaviness above my knees and around my mouth. It's barely noticeable though. Got all of my cleaning and laundry done, now I just have to do a little bit of ironing when I get home later. Dropped off my dry cleaning, I got my brows threaded, Stopped in to smoke island but didn't buy anything, bought some peach tea at Starbucks. Someone's laptop bag Was sitting outside so I brought it in and ask if it belongs to anyone.In the past I wouldn't have had the courage to bring attention to myself in a coffee shop like that. Maybe part of it was starting starting to come out of my shell, and part of it is at the coffee shop was not that crowded. Gave it to the barista, and thankfully The owner probably came out of the bathroom, look outside for his bag, and then came in and asked the barista. I told him that I found it outside and thought someone had left it so gave it to the barista. Proud of myself for doing The right thing, and thankfully the man was not alarmed.. and I've been texting with Andrew a lot more lately, not for tacious Lee though, and he suggested nature and learn to enjoy the downtime/my own company. Tocco also texted me in Allen holding up during all the Greta! viruses area which was really sweet. I've Heard from A couple different people that I Will be granted and extension with no penalty to pay off what I owe in taxes!Andrew said I may also be granted some government relief. He also joke that worst case scenario I could come live with him and his dog! He probably wasn't being serious but it was still a nice offer. Got a Soothe client! Avelash also texted me wanting to set something up for tonight and will let me know for sure later. A few people have been checking on me to see how my business is doing, and Marc pointed out yesterday that business might actually pick up because people are home. After this I'll run to Andrews to get my thermos, then go home to eat/wash my hair/iron and get some other things done around the house. Had a Great session, we exchange numbers and she was very happy with the massage. Her son asked if I was Spanish! She passed out my number to one of her friends! I forgot to offer the facemask but remember the start time. Now driving to Andrews to pick up my thermos. Just got my thermos! He was friendly as usual. He showed me the head of an animal is German Shepherd killed. Seeing sheep, blue jays, robins, flies, & ravens! Yesterday I saw a cat & horses. All of these animal totem telling me That this is a time for transformation/growth & that I have the ability to create a life I want to. Texted Olga and she wasn't super talkative. I don't know if it's a combination of that, slower business, went to bed a little later

PROUD OF MYSELF FOR: no sweating, on time session, client liked me,

WISH I HAD DONE DIFFERENT: bed early, razor nick, taking things personally

[thewanderingmacy]

SORRY (Ko Lanta and Phuket; and Jaipur)

It’s been a while because my laptop broke down (I was forced to buy a new one but I do love new things) and also I forgot to write completely.

So last I checked in, I was arriving in Ko Lanta, I think. I was only there for a couple days but I saw the beach, which was very relaxing and beautiful. It was a heavily-tourist-populated place but there were a lot families and older couples which was a nice break from the young 20 years old.

I went to a stray cat and dog sanctuary and got to walk one of the dogs which was mostly nice. I was walking with a british girl (they paired us up based on the dogs’ friends). We talked for a little while- I’m actually visiting her hometown in a few weeks and she said she’d show me around which was really nice of her. We were sent to walk along the beach but I vaguely remember them saying not to walk in one part of it but we ignored that and encountered two large, angry stray dogs. It was actually really scary because they followed us for a while and then ran at us. Nothing happened to us or the dogs but they were aggressive and there was a definite possibility something could’ve happened.

I woke up early the following morning early (well 8am) and swam from 9am-10am which was really nice because there were absolutely no young people so I didn’t give a fuck and could just lounge with the older couples. They don’t judge me. They don’t care that I have rolls, they want my youth. (just kidding hahahaha).

Then I took a long boat ride to Phuket where I encountered more trouble (take a shot every time something goes wrong on this trip). First of all, the bus missed my stop so I had to wait til the end for it to go back (you just tell them your stop and they arrange the route). My hostel had overbooked and they were gonna make me stay somewhere else for a night. I said I’d do it if I got a discount. No way am I suffering without compensation. They wouldn’t budge at all and so I stayed at a different one entirely. The hostel wasn’t bad (it was cheaper but the room was mixed which I’ve come to hate- men snore, if you didn’t know) but it was an annoying turn in events. I wandered around a little bit for a day or two, just checking some shops. There was a small pool in the hostel where I swam because it got boiling hot in the day (I’m talking 38 degrees sometimes). I met two European men, aged about 60, (Swedish and Spanish) who were travelling with their wives through southeast Asia for a month. They explained how they were painters who were looking for inspiration. I enjoyed talking to them way more than the youngsters.

The following day, I’d previously found a ceramic studio where you could make something for $15 (it was my last day in Thailand so I always spend my last dollars and I had extra this time because I’d saved on the hostel). I went to the studio and, funnily, was surrounded by children as I made my pets out of clay. It was a humbling moment to say the least. I couldn’t paint them as I was leaving the next day but I still made all 3 and felt at least a bit fulfilled. Next, I went to the cat cafe in town which had stunning but honestly, very uninterested, cats everywhere. I pet them for a bit but stayed for the strong wifi connection.

The following day was spent in transit as I had a 10am flight to Singapore, then an 8pm flight to Jaipur, India. I oddly had a very enjoyable time at the airport in Singapore. I’d originally planned on spending a few hours in the city but became overwhelmed by the shopping and restaurant choices in the airport so I stuck around and almost weirdly enjoyed 8 hours in the airport. I bought my laptop (tax free!) and some makeup and had some pizza (finally!). Then, I took a long ass flight to India where I arrived at midnight (I’d been in 3 different zones that day so the day was LONG). I passed out immediately at my hostel.

I was in Jaipur, the capital of whatever region of India it was, I honestly don’t know. They had quite a few palaces and temples, which I visited for a little while but they’re expensive for foreigners. On my first day, actually, I started by going to the museum as I figured it’d be good to educate myself before seeing the rest of the city. It had a lot of stuff but not that much knowledge, if that makes sense. Oh well, I got the student rate because I fooled them with my youth travel card so I only lost a couple bucks. Then I went to a cafe, and some markets later on. At the cafe, there were three 30 year olds sitting near me. Two indian men and a white (I later learned, French girl). One of the men, who was with the French girl, had lived in Niagara Falls and the other was just completely Indian, and was their friend. The latter guy just started talking to me so I answered the questions but i was listening and was very invested in a podcast (Stuff You Should Know) so I was annoyed. But he kept asking questions and then brought up that he was a tour guide and started showing me all the video testimonies of his. I’m cheap and good at directions so I don’t need a city guide at all. Plus, it wasn’t a large city so I was fine walking. He left me alone until I got up when they had oddly also conveniently been leaving and went on a solid 30 minute spiel about himself and his tours and how he loves a challenge and isn’t in it for the money, he just wants to make people happy and he could “tell i’m suspicious” (nah i just thought it was annoying and pushy) but wanted to prove me wrong, blah blah blah. It was awful. The couple was normal and would talk to me a bit when he would shut up. I said no a few times before he “gave up” and said we should all have a cup of coffee and just chat. I thought, why not. The other two were normal and had tips for me about being a foreigner in India so I joined. He ordered us all hot coffee which I hate (I only drink iced coffee, excuse you) but whatever. He said, I’m not gonna talk about my guides anymore, you can just ask us questions. That was a lie. He kept talking about himself whenever the conversation verred away from him and then, at the end, said it was so nice to get to know you (like wtf I literally got to say 3 words about me and he’d always ignore whatever anyone else said and start talking about himself again). We were leaving and the couple left, and he insisted AGAIN to guide me. I said no like a bunch of times before he finally walked away. That annoyed me quite a bit.

Okay now, the following day in Jaipur, I saw the city palace, bought my train ticket and walked around a bit, which was nice. And on the last day, I went to the Amber Fort/Palace which was really beautiful. 

The people here stare a ton at me. I thought that I’d, not necessarily like it but think it’d make me feel interesting or something (like a celebrity, it’s shallow, whatever, we all live in 2017, fame is a common fascination) but it’s actually really uncomfortable and not at all fun. I don’t like it. People driving stare out their windows, people walking by crane their necks, people just go up to me, asking where I’m from. Some drivers start asking very personal questions. It’s all too much. I get that they’re curious but boundaries! The worst was actually yesterday when I took a train from Jaipur to Agra (where I’m writing from now). I was in a booth with a bunch of maybe later 20 year old men who were in the Indian Army. They left me alone for a couple hours which was misleadingly encouraging. I read online that people would be curious and at the half way point, one of them started to ask questions. I had headphones in and he noticed so, after a few questions, he stopped. Then two minutes later, he started up again. He kept doing this, and a crowd would form (I wanted to take a photo because everyone would just sit around me even though they couldn’t understand what I was saying, as the English speaking one pointed out). It was funny for a moment but I had two hours left and the increasingly more awkward questions kept coming. I would respond but not offer any back and forth conversation (i.e. what’s your name, etc). I just wanted to be left alone, as maybe selfish as that is. I was tired (I was on the train for 5 hours and had barely eaten) and had had enough of the interrogation. Some of the questions made me really uncomfortable. Asking my parents’ names and occupations, my siblings’ names and occupations, my favourite foods (wtf), for photos of my family, if I had a boyfriend (I lied and said I did because I was uncomfortable), what his name was (lol), did I have photos of him. He started to show me photos on his phone of white people he’d met, too. Then they started to ask me what my plans were in Agra. I said I was meeting friends who were already there (I’ve had to come up with a false alibi often like my family is waiting for me in a restaurant, my brother is arriving tomorrow). It just made me feel unsafe, even though they didn’t have bad intentions, but I still didn’t like the lack of boundaries. They actually helped me get my luggage out and shook my hand when I left so I’m sure they weren’t intending to be weird but man, I was happy to leave.

Today, I woke up with a cold (boo) and visited the Taj Mahal. And that’s it really. I was going to do something else- go to the Agra Fort- but it costs $10 and I already spent $20 on the Taj Mahal and I’m tired and sick so I’m staying in.

That’s it for now,

Macy

[itsfinancethings]

Margaret Keane, CEO of Synchrony—a company that financed $140 billion in purchases for American shoppers last year, via a range of credit card programs—has lived all sides of the debt equation. When she was 10, growing up as one of six kids in Queens, her father, a police officer, developed a costly and ultimately fatal illness that she says left her family burdened with thousands in medical bills. “We were getting calls to shut the electric off,” she says. “I don’t think you could ever forget that.”

She put herself through college working as a debt collector, earning $5.50 an hour, making 90 calls a day, while a student at St. John’s University. She excelled and ended up in the management training program at Citibank before rising to run Synchrony, where she now presides over an army of employees approving loans, and also collecting them when borrowers fall behind.

The ability of consumers to keep paying their bills will play an outsized role in the post-pandemic recovery. So far, Keane is not seeing a spike in delinquencies one might expect given the plunge in economic activity, though the stimulus is clearly aiding those bill payments. “The consumer is definitely hanging in there,” she says.

Keane, 60, recently joined TIME for a video conversation on the mindset of the American consumer, the impact of small business health on any recovery, and what corporations need to do to help address systemic racism in society.

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

(This interview with Synchrony CEO Margaret Keane has been condensed and edited for clarity)

Your company was founded in 1932, another time of great financial distress, to help people buy appliances on credit. Now there are tens of million of Americans out of work. What parallels do you see?

What’s interesting about our company is the culture and the roots of how we came about was really during a time of crisis. And honestly, back in the day, when you think back, I know it doesn’t feel innovative now, but actually lending people money was a big deal.

What products were being sold?

Back in the ’30s, people would literally go to their local corner appliance store and pay weekly to get the appliance. You can imagine people weren’t working and GE wanted to sell appliances. So they came up with this idea, ‘Okay, how do we finance appliances?’ And that’s how the company started—GE wanted to sell appliances. Appliances were still relatively new for them. Having that at home was a big deal. It allowed the average American to have access to those kinds of luxuries back then.

How concerned are you about the health of the American consumer right now?

Coming into the crisis the consumer was very strong. People were paying their bills. Right now, we are not seeing real change to our performance on delinquencies. There’s two big unknowns. The first unknown is there’s been a lot of stimulus for people. I’m sure you’ve read, people put a lot more in savings.

Savings are at a record rate, right?

Record high, and then a second piece is people are paying their bills. Now the question is, is it the stimulus that’s helping them pay their bills, tax returns? What’s interesting to me is that consumers are being conservative. They’re being thoughtful about how they’re using their dollars. So what we need to do is say, ‘Okay, what happens when the stimulus stops? And then when the stimulus stops, how many people actually get back to work?’ That’s really the piece that’s a little uncertain right now.

With your partnerships with so many big retailers such as Lowe’s, Sam Clubs and the newly announced Verizon card, you have a lot of insights into consumer behavior. What are people buying now?

There’s a lot being spent around the home, home improvement. You can’t find plants now.There’s a lot being spent around the home, home improvement. You can’t find plants now. You can’t find vessels to plant in. Furniture obviously dropped, but didn’t drop completely. People are still buying online. What we did see though is that the ticket size was smaller because you didn’t have a sales person saying, ‘Oh, if you’re going to buy that chair, you might want to think about this table.”

Anything else?

Bikes. Fishing rods. All outdoor stuff now is kind of hard to get. I was just talking to someone who said you can’t find kayaks right now. People have just said I’m not going to take vacation. So I’m going to have vacation at home. And then there are people who say, ‘Okay, I really want to make my house more of my vacation.’

I’ve heard you mention that all of these Zoom calls are going to drive demand for another service that you finance.

We have our health care business, CareCredit. We do a lot with plastic surgeons. And I joked that the plastic surgery business is going to take off. And sure enough, it has taken off now that things have reopened.

Is that true? Do you think that’s driven by Zoom?

I use myself as an example. I’m looking at my face every day and there’s some things I should be getting. [LAUGHTER]. One of our employees, their wife is a nurse in a plastic surgery center, and she told her husband that she saw 32 patients in one day. It’s the most she’s ever seen in her entire career.

What economic indicators do you monitor to tell how consumers are feeling financially?

We look at things like are people paying less than their minimum payment? Are payment levels holding? And honestly, all of that’s holding. So that’s a sign for us that right now, the consumer is definitely hanging in there.

Purchase volume is the number of times people use their credit card?

Yeah, these are purchases on our card. Our cards across our merchant and retail and health care networks. When we started the pandemic, it started out, in March we were down 26%. It moved down to about 31% [in the first half of April.] And it’s now down 10% (in late May.)

TIME for Learning partnered with Columbia Business School to offer a series of online, on-demand classes on topics like effective leadership, negotiation and customer-centric marketing. To sign up or learn more, click here.

How are brick and mortar retail stores going to come out of this?

We have been over-retailed for a long time. There was a retail transformation happening even before COVID. And there were a number of retailers that were struggling. What the COVID experience has done is accelerate that transformation. And we’re seeing more bankruptcies and reductions in retail. We’re seeing, obviously, more and more people buy online than ever before. But people still like to go to a mall and get out and see things and touch things.

I know your view is that some of the problems in retail went beyond competition from e-commerce, right?

Online is not the only driver of why retail has had its troubles in opening. I think there were some fundamental challenges underneath. Too many stores. No investment in the stores themselves. Lack of inventory. I was in a store before this whole thing happened and, honestly, I had to really search to find someone to pay for something. You’re like, ‘Oh, my God, why am I even here?’

What is your biggest concern about the economy?

I’ve been through many crises before where we’ve modeled a lot of things out. We tend to model unemployment. I don’t think we’ll be at this 40 million unemployment number. I think the real concern that I have when I think of employment is more around the small business constituents here. And how many of them actually survive, right? I think the real question is how many people survive in the small business segment, and then what does that do to unemployment?

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

And what are your models showing right now?

It will be a double-digit unemployment number we think going into 2021.

What’s your favorite letter these days to describe the expected shape of the recovery?

I think it’s going to be somewhat of a U, but it’s going to be a little elongated It’s going to be a little slower coming up.

How important are small businesses to the American economy overall?

We need a robust small business community here to make our economy in the U.S. work. Studies show they employ the most people. They keep our communities strong. As a country, small business is the heart of who we are. [On June 17, after the interview was conducted, Synchrony committed $5 million to support small business; $2 million of that amount is directed to minority and women owned businesses in underserved communities.]

And people still value the connection with local businesses.

I live in a little town here [In Connecticut] and I walk down my Main Street, and I keep saying ‘I love that store, I hope they’re going to be back. And that store, I hope they’re going to be back. The restaurants, I hope they’re going to be back.’ These are real businesses with real expenses that have been shut for quite awhile.

The majority of your 17,000 employees work in call centers. How is that going in the pandemic?

We moved the entire company to home. That’s much easier said than done because we literally had to give everyone the technology. We had to create a whole logistics process. We put those packets, if you will, together: Their work-at-home technology. And then they’d come into our call centers, pick it up. We had like a whole process. We have some funny stories of people driving in the middle of the night to meet the FedEx guy to get the headsets because they weren’t going to make it in the morning.

What’s in that kit?

It’s a laptop, it’s a camera, it’s headsets, it’s speakers. A mouse. But in addition to that, we had to work with them and make sure their network could handle it, too. There was a lot of back-and-forth on just getting them set up in the right environment at home.

That sounds expensive. What did that cost?

I have no idea how much we spent. I know it was a lot. But I didn’t even ask. If we weren’t in a pandemic, we would have had our 55 meetings before we got to the decision of, Okay, we’re going to move everybody home. Then we would have done the budget. Then we would have said, well, whatever. We didn’t do any of that. We moved.

When you were a debt collector back in the day, did you have a good spiel? Did you go off script?

Look, I always try to tell people, what you do learn in collecting is there are people that have real tragedies and really are trying to pay and they’re lawful. And there are those people who are trying to beat the system. And I think the trick of a collector is figuring out who those other people are, and just making sure you have empathy for the people that have hit something.

Did you have a good nose for the people that are trying to beat the system?

You don’t have it at the beginning. But then you do. I went into it with a very rose-colored kind of glass thing, And then you’re like, ‘Okay, now I realize what people are talking about.’ It’s the repeat offender that gets you.

How is your workforce doing, mental-health wise?

You know the whole work-at-home is a good thing, but it puts a lot of stress, particularly for women who are trying to home-school.If you asked our staff out in the field, they’re saying this is the biggest challenge we’re facing right now is a lot of anxiety, a lot of depression. You know the whole work-at-home is a good thing, but it puts a lot of stress, particularly for women who are trying to home-school.

How do you respond to that?

We were working on mental health before COVID because it’s been very clear to me that we have a very stressed environment in our work right now. And there’s a lot of people who need extra support. So we were actually piloting some things in our call center, where some wellness coaches that were actually there at the site. So we now just transformed that to wellness through telemedicine. And we’ve expanded to offer free consultation with psychologists.

What has been your response to the outpouring of support to address systemic racism in society?

I have to as a leader recognize that we have some real work to do in society and the country. And we’re part of that. What can we do internally?

I didn’t want this to be like a check mark, like, We sent the note out. We all said ‘We’re sad.’ And then move on. This is a pivotal moment in our country that Synchrony can play a role inside its company, and then we’ve got to think about what we do outside the company. [On June 25, Synchrony announced a $5 million donation to organizations supporting social justice and equity.]

So corporations should be involved in this solution?

There’s no way we’re going to solve this, because there’s so many things that need to be solved, without corporations stepping up, engaging in our communities, and engaging with government. I think it’s all about how we lift everybody up through this. There’s how do we hire more diverse people in our company? How do we give more people of diversity, no matter what diversity, the opportunity inside our company? And we’ve been working on a lot of this. And we were very focused coming into this year on Black and Hispanic leadership. And particularly Black … because we don’t have enough. We’re doing a lot of soul-searching because we could pat ourselves, great places to work. We get all these awards. We’re great. But like let’s look at the numbers on some of these things and how we make a difference. We have to double down on all this right now.

KEANE’S FAVORITES

BUSINESS BOOK: I like leadership books. I loved Hamilton. I loved the Grant book. I love historical novels of people who have led. I’m very into those types of figures because look, they made a lot of very difficult decisions to bring our country together both times.

AUTHOR: I’m a big Nelson DeMille fan. I actually like his older stuff better because they’re so good

APP: Twitter. I use it to really stay abreast of what’s happening.

TIME MANAGEMENT TIP: I never go to sleep with an unread email. It’s zero every night.

PREFERRED STRESS RELIEF METHOD: In the middle of the day, I try to make an hour of time for myself to go take a walk outside. Just getting outside has a whole different feeling. And it’s funny because it’s not like I did that in my office. I would work all day, but for some reason I just need to get up, get out, clear my mind, and come back a little refreshed.

(Miss this week’s The Leadership Brief? This interview above was delivered to the inbox of Leadership Brief subscribers on Sunday morning, June 28; to receive emails of conversations with the world’s top CEO’s and business decision makers, click here. The Leadership Brief will not be published over the Fourth of July weekend. The next weekly edition will hit your inbox July 12.)

[newstechreviews]

Margaret Keane, CEO of Synchrony—a company that financed $140 billion in purchases for American shoppers last year, via a range of credit card programs—has lived all sides of the debt equation. When she was 10, growing up as one of six kids in Queens, her father, a police officer, developed a costly and ultimately fatal illness that she says left her family burdened with thousands in medical bills. “We were getting calls to shut the electric off,” she says. “I don’t think you could ever forget that.”

She put herself through college working as a debt collector, earning $5.50 an hour, making 90 calls a day, while a student at St. John’s University. She excelled and ended up in the management training program at Citibank before rising to run Synchrony, where she now presides over an army of employees approving loans, and also collecting them when borrowers fall behind.

The ability of consumers to keep paying their bills will play an outsized role in the post-pandemic recovery. So far, Keane is not seeing a spike in delinquencies one might expect given the plunge in economic activity, though the stimulus is clearly aiding those bill payments. “The consumer is definitely hanging in there,” she says.

Keane, 60, recently joined TIME for a video conversation on the mindset of the American consumer, the impact of small business health on any recovery, and what corporations need to do to help address systemic racism in society.

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

(This interview with Synchrony CEO Margaret Keane has been condensed and edited for clarity)

Your company was founded in 1932, another time of great financial distress, to help people buy appliances on credit. Now there are tens of million of Americans out of work. What parallels do you see?

What’s interesting about our company is the culture and the roots of how we came about was really during a time of crisis. And honestly, back in the day, when you think back, I know it doesn’t feel innovative now, but actually lending people money was a big deal.

What products were being sold?

Back in the ’30s, people would literally go to their local corner appliance store and pay weekly to get the appliance. You can imagine people weren’t working and GE wanted to sell appliances. So they came up with this idea, ‘Okay, how do we finance appliances?’ And that’s how the company started—GE wanted to sell appliances. Appliances were still relatively new for them. Having that at home was a big deal. It allowed the average American to have access to those kinds of luxuries back then.

How concerned are you about the health of the American consumer right now?

Coming into the crisis the consumer was very strong. People were paying their bills. Right now, we are not seeing real change to our performance on delinquencies. There’s two big unknowns. The first unknown is there’s been a lot of stimulus for people. I’m sure you’ve read, people put a lot more in savings.

Savings are at a record rate, right?

Record high, and then a second piece is people are paying their bills. Now the question is, is it the stimulus that’s helping them pay their bills, tax returns? What’s interesting to me is that consumers are being conservative. They’re being thoughtful about how they’re using their dollars. So what we need to do is say, ‘Okay, what happens when the stimulus stops? And then when the stimulus stops, how many people actually get back to work?’ That’s really the piece that’s a little uncertain right now.

With your partnerships with so many big retailers such as Lowe’s, Sam Clubs and the newly announced Verizon card, you have a lot of insights into consumer behavior. What are people buying now?

There’s a lot being spent around the home, home improvement. You can’t find plants now.There’s a lot being spent around the home, home improvement. You can’t find plants now. You can’t find vessels to plant in. Furniture obviously dropped, but didn’t drop completely. People are still buying online. What we did see though is that the ticket size was smaller because you didn’t have a sales person saying, ‘Oh, if you’re going to buy that chair, you might want to think about this table.”

Anything else?

Bikes. Fishing rods. All outdoor stuff now is kind of hard to get. I was just talking to someone who said you can’t find kayaks right now. People have just said I’m not going to take vacation. So I’m going to have vacation at home. And then there are people who say, ‘Okay, I really want to make my house more of my vacation.’

I’ve heard you mention that all of these Zoom calls are going to drive demand for another service that you finance.

We have our health care business, CareCredit. We do a lot with plastic surgeons. And I joked that the plastic surgery business is going to take off. And sure enough, it has taken off now that things have reopened.

Is that true? Do you think that’s driven by Zoom?

I use myself as an example. I’m looking at my face every day and there’s some things I should be getting. [LAUGHTER]. One of our employees, their wife is a nurse in a plastic surgery center, and she told her husband that she saw 32 patients in one day. It’s the most she’s ever seen in her entire career.

What economic indicators do you monitor to tell how consumers are feeling financially?

We look at things like are people paying less than their minimum payment? Are payment levels holding? And honestly, all of that’s holding. So that’s a sign for us that right now, the consumer is definitely hanging in there.

Purchase volume is the number of times people use their credit card?

Yeah, these are purchases on our card. Our cards across our merchant and retail and health care networks. When we started the pandemic, it started out, in March we were down 26%. It moved down to about 31% [in the first half of April.] And it’s down 10% in late May.

TIME for Learning partnered with Columbia Business School to offer a series of online, on-demand classes on topics like effective leadership, negotiation and customer-centric marketing. To sign up or learn more, click here.

How are brick and mortar retail stores going to come out of this?

We have been over-retailed for a long time. There was a retail transformation happening even before COVID. And there were a number of retailers that were struggling. What the COVID experience has done is accelerate that transformation. And we’re seeing more bankruptcies and reductions in retail. We’re seeing, obviously, more and more people buy online than ever before. But people still like to go to a mall and get out and see things and touch things.

I know your view is that some of the problems in retail went beyond competition from e-commerce, right?

Online is not the only driver of why retail has had its troubles in opening. I think there were some fundamental challenges underneath. Too many stores. No investment in the stores themselves. Lack of inventory. I was in a store before this whole thing happened and, honestly, I had to really search to find someone to pay for something. You’re like, ‘Oh, my God, why am I even here?’

What is your biggest concern about the economy?

I’ve been through many crises before where we’ve modeled a lot of things out. We tend to model unemployment. I don’t think we’ll be at this 40 million unemployment number. I think the real concern that I have when I think of employment is more around the small business constituents here. And how many of them actually survive, right? I think the real question is how many people survive in the small business segment, and then what does that do to unemployment?

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

And what are your models showing right now?

It will be a double-digit unemployment number we think going into 2021.

What’s your favorite letter these days to describe the expected shape of the recovery?

I think it’s going to be somewhat of a U, but it’s going to be a little elongated It’s going to be a little slower coming up.

How important are small businesses to the American economy overall?

We need a robust small business community here to make our economy in the U.S. work. Studies show they employ the most people. They keep our communities strong. As a country, small business is the heart of who we are. [On June 17, after the interview was conducted, Synchrony committed $5 million to support small business; $2 million of that amount is directed to minority and women owned businesses in underserved communities.]

And people still value the connection with local businesses.

I live in a little town here [In Connecticut] and I walk down my Main Street, and I keep saying ‘I love that store, I hope they’re going to be back. And that store, I hope they’re going to be back. The restaurants, I hope they’re going to be back.’ These are real businesses with real expenses that have been shut for quite awhile.

The majority of your 17,000 employees work in call centers. How is that going in the pandemic?

We moved the entire company to home. That’s much easier said than done because we literally had to give everyone the technology. We had to create a whole logistics process. We put those packets, if you will, together: Their work-at-home technology. And then they’d come into our call centers, pick it up. We had like a whole process. We have some funny stories of people driving in the middle of the night to meet the FedEx guy to get the headsets because they weren’t going to make it in the morning.

What’s in that kit?

It’s a laptop, it’s a camera, it’s headsets, it’s speakers. A mouse. But in addition to that, we had to work with them and make sure their network could handle it, too. There was a lot of back-and-forth on just getting them set up in the right environment at home.

That sounds expensive. What did that cost?

I have no idea how much we spent. I know it was a lot. But I didn’t even ask. If we weren’t in a pandemic, we would have had our 55 meetings before we got to the decision of, Okay, we’re going to move everybody home. Then we would have done the budget. Then we would have said, well, whatever. We didn’t do any of that. We moved.

When you were a debt collector back in the day, did you have a good spiel? Did you go off script?

Look, I always try to tell people, what you do learn in collecting is there are people that have real tragedies and really are trying to pay and they’re lawful. And there are those people who are trying to beat the system. And I think the trick of a collector is figuring out who those other people are, and just making sure you have empathy for the people that have hit something.

Did you have a good nose for the people that are trying to beat the system?

You don’t have it at the beginning. But then you do. I went into it with a very rose-colored kind of glass thing, And then you’re like, ‘Okay, now I realize what people are talking about.’ It’s the repeat offender that gets you.

How is your workforce doing, mental-health wise?

You know the whole work-at-home is a good thing, but it puts a lot of stress, particularly for women who are trying to home-school.If you asked our staff out in the field, they’re saying this is the biggest challenge we’re facing right now is a lot of anxiety, a lot of depression. You know the whole work-at-home is a good thing, but it puts a lot of stress, particularly for women who are trying to home-school.

How do you respond to that?

We were working on mental health before COVID because it’s been very clear to me that we have a very stressed environment in our work right now. And there’s a lot of people who need extra support. So we were actually piloting some things in our call center, where some wellness coaches that were actually there at the site. So we now just transformed that to wellness through telemedicine. And we’ve expanded to offer free consultation with psychologists.

What has been your response to the outpouring of support to address systemic racism in society?

I have to as a leader recognize that we have some real work to do in society and the country. And we’re part of that. What can we do internally?

I didn’t want this to be like a check mark, like, We sent the note out. We all said ‘We’re sad.’ And then move on. This is a pivotal moment in our country that Synchrony can play a role inside its company, and then we’ve got to think about what we do outside the company. [On June 25, Synchrony announced a $5 million donation to organizations supporting social justice and equity.]

So corporations should be involved in this solution?

There’s no way we’re going to solve this, because there’s so many things that need to be solved, without corporations stepping up, engaging in our communities, and engaging with government. I think it’s all about how we lift everybody up through this. There’s how do we hire more diverse people in our company? How do we give more people of diversity, no matter what diversity, the opportunity inside our company? And we’ve been working on a lot of this. And we were very focused coming into this year on Black and Hispanic leadership. And particularly Black … because we don’t have enough. We’re doing a lot of soul-searching because we could pat ourselves, great places to work. We get all these awards. We’re great. But like let’s look at the numbers on some of these things and how we make a difference. We have to double down on all this right now.

KEANE’S FAVORITES

BUSINESS BOOK: I like leadership books. I loved Hamilton. I loved the Grant book. I love historical novels of people who have led. I’m very into those types of figures because look, they made a lot of very difficult decisions to bring our country together both times.

AUTHOR: I’m a big Nelson DeMille fan. I actually like his older stuff better because they’re so good

APP: Twitter. I use it to really stay abreast of what’s happening.

TIME MANAGEMENT TIP: I never go to sleep with an unread email. It’s zero every night.

PREFERRED STRESS RELIEF METHOD: In the middle of the day, I try to make an hour of time for myself to go take a walk outside. Just getting outside has a whole different feeling. And it’s funny because it’s not like I did that in my office. I would work all day, but for some reason I just need to get up, get out, clear my mind, and come back a little refreshed.

(Miss this week’s The Leadership Brief? This interview above was delivered to the inbox of Leadership Brief subscribers on Sunday morning, June 28; to receive emails of conversations with the world’s top CEO’s and business decision makers, click here. The Leadership Brief will not be published over the Fourth of July weekend. The next weekly edition will hit your inbox July 12.)

[top1course]

How To Sell Millions Without Ever Opening Your Mouth! Copywriting Secrets Simple 7-Step Formula Pt.2

So that’s step number to Credit your system offer now step number three this that would take a little bit, more thinking, this what I want you to do is to list, every single feature and benefit about your, so now you have to offer, now listen every single thing possibly, the people with Gad they would benefit from your, aquatica, now you might think when you make this list I can tell you, but most people most copywriters I think this is owners, ulysse would be over, cuz you are too close to, to your party, so you might think, let’s say you are selling a computer and you might think while this computer only has, five features, that’s not enough, you want every single possible, i guess since you’re closer to, to the product as well you might miss, you would miss you sell computers but you might forget that, This computer is fast, okay that’s not enough, write me a list every single feature, there’s a big difference between speech and benefit the most people get confused, yeah, so our future is, what it is, a benefit is what it does, okay send them all a drill or a drill that the feature is, you have what, the drill bit right and he’s he’s going to TriCity right but the benefit is intros a hoe, very quickly, you got to think about what is what’s the featured benefit, and I will give you a boner, the easiest way to to do this if you create a list of features first, a long list of features, and then you ask yourself the question, so what, so what, so, example, well this, this computer is very fast, he has got one, like a dyke or dike or Dyke or 707 computer so what, So that eats what, you could when you play, computer game, yeah it was so much faster, lights feature, long as the features and a long list of benefits you need to go through this, because we going to use these and turn it into, it could be benefits, driven statement could be bullet points it could be hotline, but if you met at 5 to work from is there a limited you won’t like, long, 100, please write think about all kinds of angles think about, any possible using customer that could benefit from in different ways, right, even as simple as a t-shirt, you would think a t-shirt, keeps you warm, you don’t keep you warm, well what else, i think something that you could just mentioned as well as, the angle, casually said it was something that we think about a lot is, for all of those features and benefits, You could Target.

Certain angle so if I’m a PC Gamer processor that’s one angle but if I want a, the backlit LED keyboard for my laptop at night because my parents are flipping out of us electricity, keyboard might be my future right so that’s two angles of two customer at you could have and sometimes what is important, one customer may not be in Wonderland costume, list all of them, by going through this exercise you already, have a deeper understanding of, your offer, cuz you thinking about, oh I thought, this is what I’m selling, turns out maybe I’m selling something else, i’m selling something more, i’ll give you another picture, once you find the benefit, the city of the future, give the benefit, i also teach a concept, call the benefit, behind, the benefit behind bed, so you going much deeper is what’s that one, Thing all that emotion, that I can, trigger, when they buy this, example, many years ago, are there was a marketer cortech Nicholas, he, was selling a stack of paper, do, display ads, and basically he was telling people these papers, it’s how people to incorporate account, wright & Company company, so he was selling these stack of paper, which 10 people think okusawa incorporate company so you think about, aAA benefit is Phil stack of papers to feature writing his documents document, the benefit, it’s, how to incorporate, tow company, by yourself, play some light, it worked okay but it didn’t work as well as his father, and finally, this concept of benefit behind a benefit, in us on Canada why you incorporate, it’s because, how to incorporate Bubble Ball, changing the headlight to a tax shelter, romantic sold millions and millions of dollars, you got to think about, What is it that you sell what are you actually selling cuz most you have no idea what they actually sell order., this is the day, right, they think that in this kind of business, i talked about this in the in the carpet in class write a few days ago, dad, if, you think, like the Domino’s Pizza, what business are they in what are they selling, that’s right no you think about that tagline that they have it, fresh, hot pizza delivered to your doors 30 mins or less are guaranteed right now, no that’s the first two words, fresh and hot, did not promise anything tastes good, they’re not promising that, they just promising fresh and hot so what are they selling the selling for Speed, best business to in, then the pieces of speed, step number 4 and that is right, attention-grabbing headline, now when it comes to headlines, I’m a very big proponent of writing multiple hairline, so you don’t just want to sit there and write one headline is okay I’m done, the more headlines you write the better, there so many headline formula, you have how to, you have, who else wants to, all you have discover, you have, the secrets of, there’s so many different kind, it’s right if you want no good headline if you want to learn how to write good headline one of the best, places that you might not think of, it’s when you go to grocery shopping, de cecco, all those, magazine, possible cosmopolitan, so many that National Enquirer, bose, autumn the best, headlines in the world, you checking out, you see this, magazine what they needed you to if they need to grab your attention, with like you can see that Men’s Health right, 17 C sex secrets that you don’t know like all this stuff, Now if you study some of these magazines this is fascinating thing.

Did I study them, you look at the history every year, it’s the same s***, they just recycle the headlines, compare the March issue to last year’s March issue, you can see the pattern, is the same stuff again and again because that’s what works, so that’s a very good place, 2, kid ideas with highlights, you wanted to be very compelling, very, benefit driven and depends on what you do today, sometimes use, just like a, power Punch weight set, death benefit, it depends on what, sometimes you use a huge discount if that’s what you’re selling why sometimes you would use, i’m credibility, wife is annoyed by certain celebrity right, play all depends on what I’ve got some headlines, i want to reach out to you so you can get an example got to ask, The guy, and just just a quick thing before City or even start if you if you if you are behind the camera, you could see these ads were written in 1990 to 1992, product, yoga teaching fuel Marshall, this was running in a bleeding Black Tail magazine, november 2 1992, secrets of speed hitting, secrets of speed dating, how to hit a man 11 times or more in one second or less, and explode into action before he can blink an eye, not that it, a pretty, powerful, headline if you are a martial arts guy, you want to improve your speed, like, okay. Here’s another one I’ll let Gabriel, if you’ve ever wished, you can live on a Caribbean Island, don’t let envious naysayers stop, with our help you can sing, successfully escaped, freezing winter, crime pollution oil prices in Mega, whether you’re looking for a retirement Haven, Vacation home land or business, please read on. Beautiful hair, it’s done a number of things I’m going to break it down for your little bit, if you can see, aldi ad, see how they, both the main thing right and you can see the image of the Caribbean island, but I love how this, if you think about what this cellophane now this is the benefit of benefit, they are not just selling some vacation home, cuz if you just out of vacation home, no they talking about, don’t let envious naysayers, stop you, you know those people, which Without You judgy right, and I talked about without help you can successfully, right X keep freezing windows, yeah I don’t know I don’t want that right, cry, pollution oil crisis, now you think about this is just, a little vacation home, but there is always emotional needs right, lost Boy, Looking for retirement Haven, vacation home land or business, doesn’t matter, and this is beautiful, this is very critical, please read on, the purpose of a headline is not too big to sell that purpose are Headliners to get people read the first paragraph, please read on, and this is a very powerful technique here…. The cliffhanger, daddy’s incomplete like when you see something… Sometimes you see my email subject line, … It’s like, what was out the doctor. I want to know, people, hate, incomplete thoughts yeah it’s like you know what you’re watching movie something you stop what’s going on, like you know when you watching movies on the LIE like that Jenny my wife comes in and she pause it, what the f*** I want to keep it going you want to know what happened right, all even a TV drama the love. They are always ended with a cliffhanger, To be continued right.

What the hell this is a very nice, peace in this world and soap, so we remember you need to write multiple headlines he wanted to be good, i’m sure this copywriter, he play play around with the word, freezing Winters quiet Blues emotional words, right climb pollution, oil crisis, and not just rest Mega stress, that’s a very powerful emotional words so how can use some of these emotional words, senior, coffee,

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[douchebagbrainwaves]

GREAT HACKERS AND MONEY

But how does it work? Better or worse, it's happening. That's a big advantage. Now most of your people will be able to sell some of their own programs need to be very lucky. Software companies, at least in your lifetime. The best was that the three-month batch format, which we were forced into by the constraints of the summer.1 Just as our ancestors did to explain the apparently too neat workings of the natural world. But if you want to work faster. Then someone discovers how to make a conscious effort to do this startup with or without them.2

It's obvious how too little money could kill you, but they could buy as many as they wanted for only an order of magnitude more.3 Today a lot of hackers could do this—that we were decoding their Enigma traffic or something. People fifty years ago would be astonished that one could just hack together a movie, for example. Palo Alto north of Oregon expressway still feels noticeably different from the beginning.4 Or rather, any client, and a thousand times as much. When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand. In a traditional series A round than an angel round. Most of the best ones.5 If anything, it's more like the first five.

That's one reason I'm not typing this on an Apfel laptop.6 But except for books, I now actively avoid stuff. One reason Google doesn't have a problem firing someone they needed to.7 Certainly if I had to choose between the just-do-it model does have advantages. Just as a hypochondriac magnifies his symptoms till he's convinced he has some terrible disease, when you're not used to competitors you magnify them into monsters. Who can hire better people to manage security, a technology startup whose whole business is running servers, or a clothing retailer? In 1980, it was working with startups that made me realize where the high-paying union manufacturing jobs that boosted the median income. When you catch bugs early, you also get fewer compound bugs. About a year ago she was alarmed to receive a letter from Apple, offering her a discount on a new version of your software by a certain date?

Notes

You'd have to spend all your time working on some project of your last funding round.

If it's 90%, you'd ultimately be a lost cause to try to become addictive. The first alone yields someone who's stubbornly inert.

But startups are competitive like running, not widening.

I'm talking here about which is a huge loophole. So for example I've deliberately avoided saying whether the 25 people have responded to this day, because a great idea as an example of applied empathy. That's not a chain-smoking drunk who pours his soul into big, messy canvases that philistines see and say that's not directly, which you are listing in order to make art that would have been five years ago it would grow as big as a result, comparisons of programming languages either take the form of bad idea was that there may be some number of big corporations found that three quarters of them. It may have allotted for the tenacity of the world, but it seems.

As a result a lot of reasons American car companies, like a compiler, you could out of just Japanese. Managers are presumably wondering, how much they can do to get frozen yogurt. The aim of such high taxes?

Experienced investors know about this problem by having a gentlemen's agreement with the issues they have zero ability to change.

In principle yes, of course, that is a meaningful idea for human audiences.

Thanks to Trevor Blackwell, Hutch Fishman, Sam Altman, Robert Morris, Alfred Lin, Joel Rainey, and Garry Tan for sparking my interest in this topic.